


Mending Havoc

by Honey_Baby_Bee



Series: The Draé Legacy: When Light and Dark Collide [7]
Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars Legends: The Old Republic
Genre: Cathar, F/M, Family Dynamics, Gen, Star Wars: The Old Republic MMO spoilers
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-05-01
Updated: 2018-10-05
Packaged: 2018-10-26 18:35:13
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 11
Words: 59,930
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10792377
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Honey_Baby_Bee/pseuds/Honey_Baby_Bee
Summary: Havoc isn’t one of the first things you think of when joining the Army: or even Specforce. You think of instilling peace and security, or at least I did. But then I excelled and got a place in the highly decorated and honored Havoc Squad, now it’s my turn to cause havoc while mending it.The story of Jessica ‘Jessi’ Tae throughout her journey as a Republic Trooper. This is ONLY in her point of view from my series 'When Dark and Light Collide.'==========================1-8 | Prologue9 | Interlude10-17 | Chapter One18-24 | Chapter Two25-31 | Chapter Three32-33 | Ilum





	1. New Squad, New Post

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> THE REPUBLIC TROOPER  
>  Chaos grips the Galactic  
>  Republic. Influential star  
>  systems break away from  
>  the millennia-old alliance,  
>  angered over the Senate's  
>  treaty with the Sith Empire.
> 
> On the planet of ORD MANTELL,  
>  civil war erupts between loyal  
>  Republic citizens and violent  
>  separatist extremists waging a  
>  campaign of terror against  
>  their own people.
> 
> Now, an elite young sergeant  
>  from the Republic's famous  
>  HAVOC SQUAD has arrived to  
>  help defeat the separatists  
>  and restore peace to this  
>  war-ravaged world....

=-=-=-=-=-=

            _Nineteen and a member of the most decorated Special Forces team there is, Havoc Squad. Working with famed Commander Tavus, Captain Zora, Lieutenant Bex Kolos, Lieutenant Vanto Brazen, and Lieutenant Ryler Dorant. The best of their respective fields, while I’m still just a sergeant._ My shuttle lands and for the first time in a long time, I see new surroundings. Lt. Kolos is here to meet me and escort me to the rest of the squad. Our mission is to recover the ZR-57, a powerful bomb which was stolen by the Mantellian separatists. He salutes in greeting and I’m trying to act more confident than I feel. I try giving myself a prep-talk but it’s not really working. I think Kolos notices because he tries to reassure me, “Relax, things are going to be fine. You can call me Gearbox, by the way. You’ll love being in the squad with us, we’re basically like a big family.” I smile at him appreciatively. At the academy, I would always be told “you need to be more refined” now “it’s calm down, relax, you take things way to seriously, etc.” _It’s like make up your mind people!_ As we walk to the APC, there’s a ship doing crazy maneuvers, I watch it in awe. It reminds me of my friend Cheyanne and dang whoever that is, is an amazing pilot. Gearbox notices me staring off in the distance and smiles, “Good memories?”

            “Yeah I do.  My best friend and her sisters would fly like that for fun and to give their mom a heart attack. Of course, with their father on board,” I reply with a smile. He chuckles, “You talk highly of them.” I give a sad smile “Yeah, they were like family to me especially since my own essentially disowned me. They were the perfect family, but even they had their heartbreaks.” He looks at me questioningly when we’re seated inside so I continue, “when I was nine, their youngest daughter was taken by Pirates and we believe sold to the Empire as a slave.”

            Emotion coloring my voice, “She was only four at the time.” Great, now I feel my eyes starting to tear up, _oh very professional, Jess. Show how strong you are by sobbing._ But I need to finish so he understands, “That’s why I wanted to join the Military, to possibly free her and to prevent this from happening to other families.” I look at him and he looks disgusted. “I’m sorry,” I say, now looking at my furry brown hands and occasionally wiping away any tears that fall. Out of the corner of my eye, see him look at me with sympathy, “Don’t be sorry, you’ve found something to fight for. Something that will hopefully never leave you.”

            Suddenly, an explosion happens and then another, then blackness. It feels like seconds later that I’m being shaken. “Sgt. Tae, are you hurt?” Gearbox nearly yells in between curses, at least it sounds like yelling. “I’m not really sure, Gearbox.” “Oh, thank the stars. I thought we lost you Sgt. and I was just starting to like you,” he smiles which I return as he helps me up. “The door is sealed shut, we can’t get out quite yet,” he says as I take in the destruction and fall back down. The APC had nine people inside, and Gearbox and I were the only survivors. _Two out of nine._ Gearbox looks at me as the tears begin anew. He’s looking at me like he's never seen someone so innocent in the middle of a war, “It’s never easy seeing others die while you get to keep living.” I smile sadly at him replying, “That’s why you start living for all those who have fallen, and fight for all those still living.” He searchingly looks at me as I get up and start collecting nametags. *Bang* “Hello, anyone in there?” Gearbox and I look at each other, both wondering if it’s an ally or an enemy. After we silently agree it’s worth the risk, Gearbox bangs something against the wall and I yell, “Yes!”

            The reply is immediate, “Oh thank the Stars. Okay, hang on.” We hear blaster shots and rustling, so both Gearbox and I help as much as our taxed bodies allow. Finally, we’re free and I look to see who our rescuer is and to my shock I know them. “Cheyanne?” I uncertainly call. She turns around and sure enough it’s her. She has her curly light brown hair in a loose braid going over her shoulder but still has those big blue doe-eyes. “Oh, my stars, Jessi!” she cries running towards me for a hug and from the corner of my eye, I see Gearbox looking at me questioningly.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ==========================  
> Hope ya'll enjoy it and sorry for any mistakes.  
> Positive feedback is greatly appreciated!


	2. Getting the Job Done

=-=-=-=-=-=

            When Chey notices Gearbox, she immediately lets’ go “Oh sorry, you are?” I shake my head as he chuckles, “Lt. Kelos, you can call me Gearbox, I’m part of your friend’s new squad.” Her eyes widen as she sees the Havoc Squad emblem on his white armor. I try to explain, “I tried to holo you.” She looks at me, “oh Jess, I’m so sorry! This ‘job’ has been sidetracking me.” I should’ve known it was her, “That was you, wasn’t it? Evading all those missiles!”

            “Yeah, it was. However, my ship and I are grounded until I destroy the Sep’s new anti-air towers,” she says with a sigh, “by the way the missiles that destroyed your walker came from this village.” Gearbox pulls me aside, “We need to destroy those missiles, so no one else gets hurt. Can you handle that Sgt. Tae?” I smile, “Yes Sir!” and head back towards Chey “Well guess I’m coming with you!” As we start walking to the village, a young Sergeant sees us, well me, and motions us over. He salutes me, “Sergeant Blyes, sir! The separatists inside are jamming our communications, and we’re in need of reinforcements.” Sir, really!? Do I look like a man to you! But instead I politely say, “Since I’m heading in there anyway, I’ll destroy those towers you just stay here and protect your men.” Blyes nods, “I’ll do what I can, sir!” As we walk away, I’m lightly growling. Chey chuckles, “Don’t like being called sir, Jess?”

            “It just makes me feel like I’m not a woman anymore just because I wear a uniform and carry a big gun. I can’t even tell you how many men I’ve ‘scared away.’ Sometimes I wonder if I’ll ever get to settle down and raise a family.” She shakes her head and puts an arm around me, “For one you’re still young and two if those ‘men’ were actual men they’d know how lucky they are to even get your attention.” There’s my positive best friend, I slightly smile, “thanks Chey, I’m glad I have you. You’re the only one I can be myself with.”

            A blaster shot whizzes by barely missing her, so she rolls to the nearest cover and opens fire, while I’m do cover fire. The separatist must not have any military training, because they had everything out it the open without any men on watch. Within 10 minutes, we’ve destroyed all the missiles, jammers and towers. Just has we were leaving the towers control room Chey’s holo beeps, “Yes?” a man appears “Captain, you there?” In response, she groans, _Must be something wrong._

            “We’ve got trouble at the hanger, separatists are trying to bust in. We’re giving them a warm welcome, but we could use a hand!” She looks at me and I nod, silently saying I’m coming with. “We’ll be right there!” He raises an eyebrow when he hears ‘we’ but otherwise makes no comment then without warning the call dies. We share an alarmed look and run to the hanger.

            When we get there, there’s about 10 separatists inside but no sign of the man who called. Chey goes to the closest cover and nods to me then we both open fire. Within a minute the coast is clear. I stay behind as she goes farther in the hanger, until she motions to come. On seeing him, “Wow, he’s attractive.” She slightly blushes and nods in agreement while kneeling to wake him. When he comes to, we hear ship’s engines roar to life. Chey runs to the hanger doors, while I help the man up he basically ignores me and follows her, “It’s Skavak, he brought the Seps here then knocked me out, then apparently stole your ship and the blasters. Wait,” he starts patting himself trying to find something, “that son of a Hutt, stole ‘Torchy.’” Upon seeing Chey’s face, he clarifies “'Torchy’ is my BlasTech ALT-25 blaster pistol.” He knows his guns.

            His holo beeps, “Oh, look who it is?” he answers it “Hello, Skavak, stole anything lately?!” Skavak appears chuckling, “Hey Cor, glad you’re still alive.” Chey growls, “Skavak, you better land my ship now.” The man, Skavak, turns to face her, “Sorry Captain, no can do. Besides why should I be afraid of a little girl who’s never heard no?!” I shake my head, he has no idea who he’s messing with.  I watch as Cheyanne tighten her fists, “The reason you should, Skavak, is because when I catch you I will make you wish you were dead.” He covers his heart, “I’ll believe it when I see it, Captain. Now good day, thank you for the ship, the blaster, and a full cargo bay.” And with that the call ends. Her normal confident posture, crumbles slightly, so I place a reassuring hand on her shoulder giving it a gentle squeeze. The man we helped looks wearily at me, “Corso, this is Sgt. Jessi Tae, my best friend.” I smile to show I’m friendly, “Hi! Chey, I’m going check in with Gearbox,” leaving with a wink.

            When I get to the APC, I see Gearbox has been trying to work on it, “Gearbox, mission complete.” I startle him “Geez Tae, you surprised me. That’s good, there’s just a few things I need to do but you need to go to Fort Garnik immediately.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ==========================  
> Hope ya'll enjoy it and sorry for any mistakes.  
> Positive feedback is greatly appreciated!


	3. Introductions and Meet Ups

=-=-=-=-=-=

             “So, where you headed to next?” I hear Cheyanne yell has she walks away from the Hanger, I face her, “Meeting the rest of my squad in Fort Garnik, you?” She smiles, “I’m going there too! I’m meeting Corso’s boss, who hopefully he’ll help me find Skavak.” Growling at the end, making me chuckle “Well, come on then!”

            Along the way, we share recent stories of what we’ve been doing the last two years. On reaching Fort Garnik, we nod a farewell as we go our separate ways. Entering the barracks, I see a young private who on seeing me runs to greet me, “Excuse me, Sergeant? Uh, sorry to interrupt, but you’re the new member of Havoc squad, aren’t you? I’m Farn, sir, Private Farn. It’s a real honor to meet you! Ord Mantell is my first post, I can’t believe I’m here at the same time as Havoc Squad!” I remember my first posting out of the Academy. I was so excited. “And you’re so… or wha-what I mean to say is that I wasn’t expecting you to be a young woman, sir. Ma’am. Sergeant.” I chuckle, “Why is that?” He swallows, “With your record and achievements, sir, I was expecting an older man not a... Um beautiful young woman.” Flattered, “It’s okay, I get it all the time and ma’am is fine.” Not the beautiful part normally. He continues “If, uh, if you don’t mind me asking, ma’am, what’s your mission here? Why would Havoc Squad be sent to Ord Mantell?” Ah curiosity, I smile “We’re here to recover a powerful weapon the separatists stole from us. Now if you excuse me, I better get inside.” Walking away I can see his stunned face, always keep them guessing, at the door to the command center, “It was a pleasure meeting you, Private Farn.” I see him grin as he walks off.

            Entering, I hear Commander Tavus say, “Yes, so if we focus our efforts on M-sector, I’m certain that…” He stops when he sees me, “Sergeant! Welcome, welcome!” I walk up to him and salute while he continues, “Good to have you here, we’ll all excited to have some new blood in the unit. As you know, I am your commanding officer.” Motioning to a green female Mirialan, “This is Wraith, my second-in-command and the squad’s infiltration and assassination specialist.” She nods, “Sergeant.” For some reason, I get the feeling she doesn’t like me. Tavus motions to a young male Zabrak, “This is Fuse. He’s young but don’t let that fool you he’s an expert with every type of explosive in the known galaxy.” Fuse swallows, “Oh, um, yes, hello Sergeant, hello. Good to meet you.” I can tell I’m going to like him. I smile at him as Tavus continues motioning to a male cyborg with implants on his jawline, above his right eye and a cybernetic eye, “And this Needles, a medical genius, particularly adept at synthesizing powerful new combat stimulants and adrenals.” Needles salutes when Tavus say his name and bows when he says, “Perfection is my art, Sergeant. It will be my honor to help you perform at your very best.” I nod and politely smile, he’s an odd one but it takes all sorts. Tavus continues, “And of course to you already met Gearbox so that’s everyone.” He turns addressing the others now, “People, this is the new sergeant I mentioned. Sgt. Jessica Tae ranked first in the Academy in Forward Assault, Search and Destroy and Advance Recon.” I slightly blush, suddenly thankful I have fur that hides it and that Tavus is pacing. He turns back to me, “It’s good to have you, Sgt. Tae.” I stand confidently, “I’m eager to work with the best of the best!” earning smiles from Tavus and Fuse, and a smug smirk from Wraith and Needles.

            “Now, the reason we’re here. A Republic transport carrying among its cargo a ZR-57 orbital strike bomb, crashed in northern Avilatan six days ago. Recovery unit sent a team, but they were too late. Separatist forces had already stolen the transport cargo, including the ZR-57, and fled.” I cut in, “Someone on our side must have tipped the Seps off.” Tavus smiles and nods, “We’ve been thinking the same thing, but we don’t have time for a mole hunt. Recovering that bomb is priority one.” He nods to Fuse and I pay him my full attention, “The ZR-57 is... well is serious hardware, you know? I mean, it can pretty much vaporize this whole island. So we’d better get it back or, well, boom.” My heart drops, the entire Island! I look at the map we’re in front of, by the stars, all those people!

            “We’re investigating several leads to the bomb’s location, but the one l’d like you to look into, Tae, comes from a Republic Spy named Bellis,” Tavus states. I nod, I’m working alone? “Bellis reported making an important discovery, but he’s in too deep to leave for a full report. Instead, you’ll rendezvous with Bellis in a nearby village called Talloran. Bellis will meet you in a small alley. Find out what he’s discovered, then return to the base immediately. Understood?” I nod, “Yes, sir.”

            Tavus points behind me, “I have one last introduction to make.” I turn and am shocked to be staring at a male Cathar. He has red and tawny fur, a scar on his left cheek, and striking green eyes. Wow, I forgot how attractive Cathar men are. Tavus continues, “This is Lieutenant Aric Jorgan.” He gives me a sharp salute which I return as Tavus continues, “an operations officer from the Republic’s Ord Mantell Infantry Command. Since we’re on individual mission to search for this bomb, Lt. Jorgan is coordinating our efforts from here within the mission room.”

            “All right, Sergeant. I’ll be overseeing your op through the camera mounted on your armor. So I see what you see. It’s activated when you leave the fort.” He startles me by walking closer, almost in my face, “I’ll make this completely clear, rookie—when you’re in the field what I say goes. Period.” To keep myself from growling as I look up into his face, “You don’t have to worry about me, Lieutenant!” He slightly pulls back, “The other members of Havoc have proven themselves on dozens of ops, Sgt. Tae. You haven’t. Just make your way to Talloran, meet with Bellis, and find out what he knows without screwing anything up.” Tavus cuts in, “Good luck in Talloran, Sergeant. Dismissed.”

            With a parting salute, I leave mission control, barely containing my anger. How dare he call me a rookie! They wouldn’t have placed me on Havoc if I didn’t have the skills necessary! Thinking he knows me because I’m young, I’ll show you rookie!  “What’s wrong, Jess?” pulls me out of my internal rant. I look up, thank the stars Chey’s here. “Oh, just a Lieutenant who thinks just because I’m young and new to Havoc, I’m a rookie!” ending with a growl, “He’s coordinating Havoc’s mission, and since I’m a Sergeant, I have to follow his orders to the letter. Plus, I have a camera on my armor so he sees everything once I’m outside the fort.” She gives me a knowing look and I blush, dang it why does she have to know me so well. Irrational attractive Cathar Lieutenant. “So, if you’re done fawning over your coordinating officer,” she makes a show of swooning to which I cover my face, “where are you off to next?” Peeking through, “Talloran Village.” Chey smiles, “Same, guess we’re going to be permanent traveling buddies if this keeps up!”

            On our way to Talloran Cheyanne freezes, noticing I stop and turn around wondering what’s up. Then her eyes start tearing up, alarmed I walk closer to her, and she whispers, “Allura! I feel Allura!” I gasp covering my mouth, they found her! I can’t believe they found her! Knowing I can’t ask her what happened, since I’m being observed. I can tell that she’s struggling on what to say to her baby sister, I put a reassuring hand on her arm. When she starts sobbing I hug her tightly, whispering positive things but knowing she’s not listening to me but her family. I’m still rather jealous she has a strong bond with her family, being able to talk to and feel them always. When all of us were younger her and her sisters would do the same with me but I asked them to stop when I went to my first post, not wanting them to see what I had to do.

            After a while I know the connection has broken, so I pull away slightly telling her “You found her, so now it’s time to forgive yourself.” She nods and wipes her tears. We’re not all that far from the blockade, when we get there they see me and nod letting us through. After a couple brief fire fights, on entering the village I can I hear Cheyanne growl, looking at her I can tell she’s talking with her family and something has happened, but before I can ask she holds up a hand then a few seconds later, “I’ll tell you later.” I nod in understanding than say “I have do this alone, see you tomorrow?” after receiving another nod, we part ways.

            It doesn’t take me very long to find the alleyway I’m meeting Bellis in but looking around I don’t see anyone. I stand patiently for a few minutes, before noticing some drying blood, oh I have a bad feeling about this. I go closer to inspect the blood, I groan when I see a blood trail that’s at least a couple hours old. Following it, I run across a poorly covered body. Oh, please don’t be Bellis! I silently beg as I kneel down to get the man’s ID tags. I groan rubbing my eyes, this will not be fun. My holo beeps, Let me guess Lt. Jorgan. When I answer, I see I’m right, “Great, Bellis is KIA. That’s some fine work, Sergeant. Do you think you could’ve taken a little longer to get to the RV point?” Stopping myself from growling, I politely say, “With all due respect, sir, he was dead before I even got to the Fort.” He narrows his eyes at me, “and why do you think that?” I know it’s a challenge but I still respond, “His body is cold besides the fact that there’s dried blood.” He covers his face “We need that info, Sgt. Tae. If he followed procedure, Bellis should’ve left a coded recording of his discovery in his field box, hidden some inside his home in Talloran. Remember if separatists know Bellis was a spy, they may already be searching his home or waiting to ambush Republic agents as they come. Stay alert. You have to find that field box from Bellis’ house before the separatists do. Double-time it!” Duh captain obvious, “Roger that.” 

            “Jorgan out.” I easily find Bellis’ home. Upon entering I see a woman making dinner, when she sees me, “Excuse me? What are you doing in my house? Is there no limit to your nerve… you barricade the town, you break into people’s homes…” She stops what she’s doing and walks closer to me continuing in a whisper, “Are you insane? You’re going to blow my husband cover! Storming in here, in plain view—what are you thinking?” Blazes, he had his wife with him?! Why didn’t Jorgan warn me!? How do I tell her that her husband dead, then convince her to give me the box and find somewhere safe? I swallow, this is going to be fun. Using my sincerest voice “Ma’am, May I ask what time he left?”

            She looks at me slightly puzzled, “About four hours ago, he said he was waiting for someone.” I close my eyes, “You may want to sit down ma’am.” She looks at me and I can already see the tears, “He’s dead, isn’t he?” I nod and she breaks, falling to the floor sobbing. I carefully help her back up and escort her to the couch, “I’m so sorry for your loss, ma’am. I wish I could have been here earlier and saved him.” I find some tissues handing her a couple, then get up to get her a glass of water. Walking back into the living room I notice holopics of their wedding and life together, “How long were you married? If you mind me asking, ma’am.” She looks up as I hand her the glass and sit next to her, “A couple years ago, we were just planning on starting a family when they took over the town. And call me Lin, ma’am makes me feel old.”

            That’s why he became a spy, she continues, “You’re not like other soldiers, since you’re here comforting me when I know there is other things you need to do.” I chuckle sadly, “Well I didn’t come here to notify you because I was never told he was married. I was sent here to get his field box, but I don’t feel comfortable leaving you here grieving.” She gives me a sad smile and places a hand on my arm, “Thank you. I’ll go look for your box, just wait here.” As she gets up to look, I place a hand on her wrist, “Pack things as well, I’m not leaving you here.” She’s about to reply when there’s a bang at the door, “Go somewhere safe, Lin, I’ll handle this.”

            The separatists’ break in right as she leaves, so I immediately open fire. Once they’re dead, I grab the irreplaceable items I see, knowing that there are more seps coming. Running to where she is, I hurriedly ask, “Is there a back exit?” She nods and points down another hallway. “I have everything,” Len says holding up the box and a few irreplaceable items, but breaks into tears as I hand her the other items I picked up, as well has Bellis’ ID tags, causing her to tightly hug me “Oh, thank you!” When I hear more seps I pull away and motion for her to go, following and covering her exit. We sneak through the rest of Talloran and make in to the blockade, where I’m surprised we aren’t stopped.

            The way back to the fort is thankfully uneventful. I leave her where other refugees are, where she gives me another hug “oh, thank you so much!” giving me the box. As I start to walk away, she pulls me back, “What is your name?” I smile, “Sergeant Jessica Tae, but Jessi to my friends.” Before I turn to leave again, she grabs my hand and puts something in it, “For everything, Jessi.” I nod and put whatever it is in my pocket. Back in the barracks, I go straight to the mission room and place the box roughly on the table directly behind Jorgan. As I’m heading back out, he says, “About time, Sergeant.” I quickly turn around, noticing that he still hasn’t moved. I march in front of him, “Next time warn me when I have to notify a family,” then I promptly leave heading to my quarters.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ==========================  
> Hope ya'll enjoy it and sorry for any mistakes.  
> Positive feedback is greatly appreciated!


	4. Ops for the Assault Specialist

=-=-=-=-=-=

             I wake up an hour before the sun rises. I get up to do my morning stretches with some music then go to the refresher for a much-needed shower. As I exit I see that my new white armor with the red orange color markings of Havoc Squad arrived, so I quickly dress in my basic underclothes then put on it on. I smile at myself in the mirror before I leave to head to the cafeteria for breakfast. I’m amazed that it’s basically empty when I enter. It’s nice to have something other than field rations, I think to myself as I dig into my meal. You can tell that the meals are made with men in mind. Just this meal consists of eggs, toast, ham, sausage, and fruit with caf and/or milk to drink, and that’s not even including what you can add to it.

             As I leave Jorgan calls me to mission control, I sigh and head over there. I can tell he’s a little shocked that I’m already wide awake and ready. “Good you’re here. I’m still decrypting Bellis’ data but Lieutenant Bazren has a task for you,” Jorgan says pointing to Fuse. “Oh, um, yes, we found an urgent lead a little bit ago. The perfect op for our new assault specialist,” after Jorgan walks off. “What’s the assignment?” I ask respectfully loving the assault specialist title. “Here’s what happened: This refugee comes into the fort, right? Not that unusual, but this guy says he knows about a separatist bombing—one happening today! All we got was his name, Mirru—‘cause he was thrown out of the fort before we could get to him.” I raise an eyebrow, “I don’t think throwing informants out is standard procedure.” Jorgan joins in from his computer terminal, “Bums come here every day, trying to trade ‘intel’ for credits. It’s bogus ninety percent of the time, so the grunts downstairs usually chase them off.” I look back at Fuse who has his hand on his chin, “I guess Mirru could be lying, but what if he does know about the ZR-57? We can’t take that risk.” I nod in agreement, “I’ll learn what I can.” He smiles, “Good, you’ll find him over in the refugee camp. Good luck, Sgt. Tae!”

             The refugee camp is easy to get to since that’s where I dropped Lin off yesterday. Mirru happened to be easy to find, a reddish orange Twi’lek covered in bruises. When I approach him, he backs up nervously “Oh no, not this again! What, you people didn’t have enough fun beating me up at the fort, you gotta come find me here, too?” I sigh, this is going to be difficult. He continues, “You’re nothing but thugs in uniform, and your bosses are going to hear about it—your bosses’ bosses, all the way on Coruscant, you hear me?! You’re going down!” I’m going to have to talk to Jorgan about how they treat refugees. I just hope this isn’t common. “I’m not here to hurt you, I promise. I’m sorry for what the others did to you, but I need your help! You said you had information for us earlier, I’m here to find out what you know.”

             Mirru smirks, “Oh now my information means something!? Well too bad! All the trauma I suffered I might have forgotten everything I knew about any separatist bombings.” I smirk, “I never said anything about any bombings. And here some kolto for your injuries. I know you’re mad at the soldiers but don’t let that anger kill innocent people. Please tell me what you know.” When in doubt guilt trip. He groans, “Okay you win… I saw the separatists hiding a bunch of bombs alongside this road heading to the fort for an ambush. I heard them say the bombs are timed to blow when some troop convoy is going past. I don’t know when, but it’s gotta be soon.” I smile at him and head him some credits, “Thanks, I’ll do what I can to stop what happened to you from happening to anyone else. Bye Mirru.”

             When she walks away my holo beeps when I answer Jorgan appears, “All right, Sergeant. I copied what Mirru said, and this bomb situation sounds like the real deal. I want you to locate the bombs and disarm them. A troop convoy is scheduled to move through there any minute now. So, double-time it, soldier!” I nod, “Copy that!” There is only three bombs total and there easily disarmed, but I continue my search just in case there’s more. After covering the entire area, I head back to the fort. As I enter the barracks Farn stops me again, this time somewhat hastily. “Sergeant! Sergeant? Excuse me, Sergeant?” he says as he runs in front of me. “Yea, Private?” I ask on seeing his panicked face. He swallows as I walk closer to him, “I’m very sorry to bother you, ma’am, but you’re the only person I could think to go to. All of the other officers I’ve met here are completely corrupt—all but you, ma’am. I know I can trust you.” I smile reassuringly, “I appreciate your trust, Private. Now, speak freely—what’s this all about?” He looks at me surprised, “It’s my CO, Lieutenant Virk. He’s scamming everyone in his command, and nobody does anything about it.” I close my eyes, something else to talk to Jorgan about. “Virk forces all of us to kick up to him to get safe postings. Credits, weapons, stuff we confiscate from the seps, everything,” Farn continues, “If you don’t play along, Virk assigns you to the most dangerous patrol routes on the island. It’s like a death sentence.” I grimace, “Corrupt officers give us all a bad name. Why hasn’t anyone reported him?” Farn looks down, “My buddy tried to report him. The next day he disappeared to Talloran, and the day after that, he came back in a box.” I lightly grasp his arm sharing my sympathies as he continues, “You’re in Havoc Squad, ma’am—you’re important. You could talk to someone who matters.”

             “I’ll inform my superiors about Lieutenant Virk’s activities immediately, Private.” He looks at me wide-eyed, “You—you will? Thank you so much. You are so… wow! Ma'am, you are amazing.” I shrug, “I just do what I can.” He salutes me, “I really appreciate it, ma'am! Thanks again!” As he leaves I turn and head inside mission control, where Commander Harron Tavus is waiting. “Ah, Sgt. Tae—good to see you again. Superb work on that ambush situation—adaptability like that is what Havoc is all about,” he says as he sees me enter. I smile, “Thank you, sir.” Jorgan walks up as Tavus continues, “I have other good news as well. Jorgan has finished reviewing the intel form Bellis’ field box. It’s given us a real breakthrough.”

             “Did Bellis manage to uncover the ZR-57’s hiding place?” I ask hurriedly. Tavus nods, “He did, Tae.” Then looks at Jorgan who begins, “Bellis discovered that the separatists have the ZR-57 securely inside their supply outpost on Mannett Point, a small island just off the coast.” Then looks back at Tavus who continues, “I sent Wraith ahead to reconnoiter the outpost, and she successfully located a secure area where we believe the bomb is stored. Judging by the dramatic increase in the number of guards and the complex security systems installed, we’re certain the bomb is there.” Stopping at looking back at Jorgan as he says, “Honestly, with security like this, Mannett Point looks more like an Imperial military base that a separatist hideout to me. I think the seps are getting a helping hand, Tavus.” Who folds his arms, “From the Imperials? That seems unlikely, Jorgan. Surely our spies would have discovered any Imperial involvement on Ord Mantell long before now.” I come to Jorgan’s aid, “The seps do seem to be unusually well equipped, Commander.” Tavus sighs, “We’ll discuss this later, back to the mission at hand. Wraith can’t breach the secured area of the Mannett Point outpost alone, so I’m sending you in immediately. Mannett Point Bridge is out of commission, so you’ll have to make an amphibious approach to the island. Oh, you will also need this,” Tavus hands me a comlink which I immediately put in my ear, “When you arrive, effect entry into the supply outpost and rendezvous with Wraith inside. She’ll give you further instructions at that time. Understood?” I nod, “Affirmative, sir. But first there’s a lieutenant named Virk running a bribery scheme with the men under his command.” Jorgan cuts in, “Virk? I know that guy. He’s a pretty pathetic officer, but nobody’s ever made any official complaints—none that I heard about anyway.” He looks at Tavus, “Jorgan and I will see to this. You get better get moving. Dismissed.” I give a parting salute then walk out.

             As I pass a warehouse I hear “Hey Jess, where you off to in such a hurry?” Oh Cheyanne, I stop abruptly and turn to hug her. She pulls back, “What’s wrong?” as she pulls away. “Hard past couple of days. I’m going to be working with Wraith in Mannett Point.” She raises both eyebrows I shrug taking it as ‘tell you later’ she says, “I’m heading there too, wanna tag along?” I smile “Yeah, but I’ll have to meet Wraith alone.” She nods, “I have to do mine alone as well.” We put our arms around each other, like we did as children, as we head to Mannett Point.

             After the uneventful journey to the island, Cheyanne shrugs out of her vest and boots putting into her bag, then doing the same with other things that might way her down, while I take off my armor and do the same. Chey has our bags lightly float above us as we swim across, rolling my eyes she makes a light breeze to dry us before we put everything back on. We easily sneak into the town, carefully avoiding anyone who could spot us as we knock out the power relays, she nods her head before she leaves. _The seps didn’t really think to hide their supply outpost. They assume since they control the island and no one will get in._ I easily get inside to meet with Wraith, who is working at at a terminal. On seeing me she states, “Sergeant. No time to waste. The bomb is behind a force field. We’re breeching it.” I nod “Just tell me what to do.”

             “I’ll disable the shield from here, you pass through and destroy its generator. When the generator is down, I’ll rejoin you.” I nod an affirmative, “Understood, sir.” She stops, “Then go.” _Yep, definitely doesn’t like me._ I quickly leave and find the generator room while running a crossed a room that has three injured soldiers. “Hold your fire! We surrender! We surrender!” the one standing, Jex by the name tag, says. One of them laying down, Grannin, says “Please! We’re all hurt—bad! We can barely walk!” I look around to find the person helping them, but there is no one, I lower my weapon to pace in front of them as they continue, “We won’t interfere or try to stop you—I swear it! We’ll just… we-we’ll walk out the door and never come back. Just please, let us live!” I grimace as the one who hasn’t spoken limps next to Jex, _I hate leaving wounded people._ I give them a couple of med packs saying “You can go, as long as you don’t cause trouble. Understood?” The three look at me surprised and Grannin says, “Really? You mean it? Thank you! Thank you!” Jex says, “You’re an honorable soldier. We appreciate it.” I nod, “There’s a lot more shooting to be done. Keep your heads down and move out.” Jex nods, “We’ll do that. Thanks again.”

             After shutting down the generator I enter the room that was shielded, only to find a large storage room with a single soldier and no bomb. The man, Separatist Officer Dalern says on seeing me, “What the—a Republic soldier? How did you get in here?” I confidently state, “In the name of the Galactic Republic, I order you to surrender!” He folds his arms, “Go ahead! Take me in, torture me! I’ll reveal nothing!” Wraith walks in and looks around as he continues, “The glorious separatist movement will never submit to your decadent, so-called Republic!” When he’s done, she states, “Hm. No bomb.” Dalern exclaims, “That’s right! We’re three steps ahead of you. Three hundred steps ahead! The separatist movement is an unstoppable force, driven by the will of the people.” Wraith steps closer to him, “Enough.” Then looks at me, “Kill him?”

             “I’ll follow your lead, Wraith” trying to scare him. He falters, “The—the glorious… you don’t, you don’t scare…me… I…” I point my gun at him and he holds up his hands, “Wait, wait! The bomb! They moved it! They-they moved it! My commander came, he… we took the bomb down to the coast and loaded it onto a seaspeeder. I don’t know where it was taken after that.” Wraith cuts in, “Extensive security. Why?” He swallows, “It’s because… well… Saphrro, Vyru and Bol are here. Three of our greatest heroes who lead us in our glorious...” Wraith hits him he grunts and continues, “They’re, uh, they’re officers. Cell commanders. They run operations in different parts of Avilatan. They’re having a conference, relocating men to different cells. They’re…” Wraith shoots him before he says anymore, “They’re dead. Sergeant?” I swallow, “I’ll take care of them, sir.” Just as Jorgan starts talking on my comlink, “Saphrro, Vyru and Bol are priority one targets, Sergeant. And recovering their data on separatist cell locations and manpower is too good an opportunity to pass up. That data will be critical to learning the bomb’s movements before it’s too late.” And just as he stops I hear Cheyanne say, _'Where are you?'_ in my mind. I try to hide my shock and sigh, _'Go on without me, I’ll meet up with you at the fort!'_ the connection breaks. Wraith says, “You have your orders. Get the data. Kill the officers. Go.”

             For being three important people in the separatist movement they didn’t hide well. I walk into their meeting room as Bol is saying, “I’m telling you, I heard blaster fire. I think we’ve been compromised!” I pull my blaster as Vyru exclaims, “There! Intruder! Bol, call for back up, now!” Bol turns and looks at me as I state, “In the name of the Galactic Republic, I order you to surrender!” Bol yells, “Saphrro! Wipe the data, we can’t let it fall into enemy hands!” Saphrro yells back, “She’s one soldier, Bol! Kill her!” They open fire every shot missing me by a hair. The fight is rather short for being one against three, I shoot Saphrro in the chest instantly killing him then on to Bol and Vyru. Once the bodies’ drop I run to the terminal that Saphrro was in front of and copy the data then head back to Fort Garnik, where Jorgan and Needles are waiting.

             “Sergeant you’ve returned. Masterful work, eliminating the separatist officers. The beast has been beheaded,” Needles says on my entrance into mission control. “I’ll get the officers’ data out to the rest of Havoc right away. As for you, Lieutenant Dorant here has a special op already planned out,” Jorgan says once Needles finishes. “Earlier today, a man named Zak came to the fort from Oradam village seeking medical attention. Zak was suffering from acute radiation poisoning, causing catastrophic organ failure. His body was practically tearing itself apart from within—quite magnificent to observe.” I swallow, _definitely weird._ He notices my expression, “Anyway… as a day laborer, Zak performs pointless, menial tasks that would never involve any kind of radiation exposure.” Jorgan continues, “On the other hand, Fuse told us that the ZR-57 can leak significant amounts of radiation if handled improperly.”

             “Zak must have been near the ZR-57, knowingly or otherwise. I want the details, even if you must pry them from his dying husk of a mind,” Needles continues. I swallow, “Is that really necessary?” Jordan nods, “This is a desperate situation, Sgt Tae. We need that intel.” Needles continues, “The medics who treated Zak weren’t equipped to cure his condition—most of their supplies have been stolen by scavengers. However, if you were to retrieve the necessary ingredients to cure Zak’s affliction… I think you would find the offer of a cure very useful in gaining his cooperation. Given that Zak’s current medications can promise only a lifetime of excruciating pain, the potential for a full recovery should be an excellent motivator.” He stops and Jorgan continues, “Command knows exactly where the scavengers are—we just haven’t had the resources to deal with them. Here are the coordinates and a list of ingredients to retrieve. Any questions?”

             “Hit the scavenger camp, retrieve the ingredients to cure Zak’s radiation poisoning. Understood,” I say with a nod. “Once you’ve got the cure collected, you’ll confront Zak at his home in Oradam village and question him about the ZR-57. Nothing fancy on this one, Sgt. Tae. Just get the ingredients, get the intel from Zak, and then get back. Dismissed.” As I leave I look at the list that only has three items: an albozene pack, a vimidone pack, and a medical injector.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ==========================  
> Hope ya'll enjoy it and sorry for any mistakes.  
> Positive feedback is greatly appreciated!


	5. Surprises

=-=-=-=-=-=

            I’m still holding at the list as I leave the barracks wanting to make sure I remember what I need. I’m so focused on the datapad that only hearing Cheyanne’s voice brings my focus back to the real world. “Hey Jess, head in the clouds?” I stop and search for her, when my eyes find her I roll my eyes while shaking my head, “I’m memorizing a list, genius.” She smirks walking towards me, “What’s it for?” I softly chuckle and roll my eyes once again, “My next assignment… where are you off too?” She shrugs, “Oradam Village for a job, you?” I smile, “Same. Going together?” She returns the smile, “Always.” Once outside the fort, we get two speeders then ride to the village only stopping right outside a house that Cheyanne enters.

            I start getting mildly worried after she’s gone for ten minutes. Then after another twenty minutes she finally comes back out. “About time you came back out here, Chey. I was about to go in there and get you!” She chuckles, “Sorry Jess, I have to head near the volcano now.” She gets back on the speeder and we head over to where we both need to go. Once we there, we both leave the speeders and go our separate ways. I easily find the scavengers that stole the medical supplies. I open fire killing at least six scavengers, then loot the bodies finding only the albozene pack along with other stolen goods. Groaning I get up and search for more scavengers. I find a rather large group of them and open fire again, killing at least half before they return fire. Once they all fall, I once again loot the bodies finding this time: an albozene pack, two vimidone pack and several medical injectors along with other things. I put everything into my bag then put it on my back to head back to the speeders. Chey is already waiting by the speeders. “Hey Cheyanne, I have to go back to the village. See you back at the fort?” I ask as I approach her. She nods, “Yep, sounds good. See you in a bit, Jessi.” Then gets on a speeder as I get on the other heading to Oradam.

            I easily find Zak’s house as everyone is avoiding it. On entering I hear a man’s voice say “You, you’re a soldier, right? From the fort? Please help us. We’re really sick—my wife is dying.” He says looking down at a reddish orange female Twi’lek who says, “forget it… ungh…I’ll be fine. Zak, just get that soldier out of here!” I close my eyes “You are not fine. You were poisoned by a stolen Republic bomb.” Zak’s eyes widen then looks down at his wife, “What? You mean… Jaller, do you know anything about this?” She closes her eyes, “Quiet Zak. We don’t know anything about… ungh… anything.” Zak practically yells, “They’re the reason we’re both sick, aren’t they? You’re dying because of them!” Jaller groans “Zak, don’t. You’ll ruin everything. The movement…” Zak interrupts her, “The movement sold us out! They don’t care about us… they just care about their weapons and their secrets.”

            “No! I’ll never betray the movement! Never!” Jaller exclaims. “Ma’am, please don’t make this any harder.” I calmly state. Jaller shakes her head as Zak says “Sweetheart, they aren’t worth dying for. Think of me. I love you.” Her eyes narrow, “If you love me, Zak, you won’t betray everything I stand for. Please let me go.” Zak’s jaw tightens “Please sweetheart, don’t do this.” I sigh, “Use this injector. It’ll cure your radiation poisoning—both of you.” Zak looks at me stunned as I hand him the injectors, “R—really? Thank you. Thank you so much.” Jaller grunts, “No, Zak… not worth…” I interrupt her as Zak injects them both, “This doesn’t come with a charge, but I’d be grateful if you would tell me how you got sick.” She shakes her head furiously while Zak says, “Jaller and I helped move this really big crate. We got sick right afterward—I’m sure it’s what you’re looking for. We dropped the crate off at the stronghold—it’s the separatists’ main base.” I slightly bow my head “Thank you, I hope you both have a happy and wonderful life.” As I leave I hear Jaller exclaim, “I’ll never forgive you for that, Zak! You betrayed me!” I sigh and head back to my speeder when my holo beeps, answering it Jorgan appears. “Come on in, Tae. I copied everything—sounds like we’re gonna be hitting the seps where they live. Good work.” I slightly smirk, “What can I say I have a way with people.” For a second I thought I saw him roll his eyes “Yeah, I guess you missed your calling. Just hang on before you file for that transfer, we still got work to do. Infiltrating that mountain stronghold isn’t going to be easy. I’ve put out the call. Havoc is assembling immediately, so get back here on the double. Jorgan out.” When the call ends I’m slightly smiling, _did Jorgan just make a joke?_

            When I reach the barracks in the fort, I’m stopped by a male Zabrak. “I’m Lieutenant Virk. I think maybe you’ve heard of me? See, my boys here saw you having a chat with little Ensign Farn. I know he told you about my business, and I know you went and blabbed about it to some very important people. And now, I got a mountain of paperwork to do, hearings to go to, people asking questions—and I don’t like that.” I cross my arms, “Not everyone on Ord Mantell is interested in making you happy.” He shrugs, “Maybe not everyone cares, but the ones who want to make it home someday sure do. Wise up. This island is my little kingdom—I can make sure people live, and I can make sure they die. So you better believe that I’m going to make extra sure you come home from your next assignment in a box, Sergeant.” I suppress at eye roll, “Are we done here? Because I have important things to do, Lieutenant.” As I walk by him not even sparing him a glance, I slightly smirk as I hear him softly growl.

            Inside the mission room, I see only Lieutenant Jorgan waiting “Ah, Sgt. Tae, welcome back. Grab yourself a seat. You’re gonna be observing the op here with me.” I raise an eyebrow, “I take it the rest of my squad is already in the field?” He nods, “The rest of Havoc is infiltrating the separatists’ stronghold as we speak. Commander Tavus was very clear: Under no circumstances can I send you in to join them on this mission. I have to admit, I’m a little surprised. I honestly thought you were starting to come along, but I guess Tavus still isn’t convinced you’re ready for the big time.” I sigh and nod, “I trust Commander Tavus’ judgment, though I wish I could be there fighting by their side.” Jorgan gives me an approving nod, “Maybe next time, Tae. I’m sure…” a noise stops him midsentence. “Lieutenant, sir! We’ve got a situation here!” a technician says turning to face us both. “Talk to me, Ensign. What’s going on?” Jorgan states looking at the young man. “We’ve lost contact with Havoc Squad, sir! Comms, video, locators, everything. It’s like they’ve disappeared completely.” I nervously swallow as Jorgan exclaims, “That’s unacceptable, soldier! You get back to that terminal, and you get me Havoc’s status, now!”

            The Ensign swallows and nods, “Yes, sir!” then turns back around to the terminal. “Send me in, Lieutenant—they may need assistance,” I try to calmly state. Jorgan looks at me, “It’d be breaking Tavus’ orders, but if it comes to that…” The ensign turns around again, “Still no signal from Havoc, sir. I think we may have lost them.” I groan closing my eyes, _please be alright!_ Jorgan address everyone “All right, people, listen up. This mission will not fail on my watch. We are not gonna let that bomb get away again! Infiltrating that stronghold is a mission only Havoc Squad can pull off,” he looks at me, “Lucky for us, we have one Havoc trooper left! Sergeant Tae—you’re going in there. The ZR-57 must not remain in separatist hands. Is that clear?” I nod “Yes, sir!” He sighs, “We were hoping to get the bomb back intact, but we’re way south of a best-case scenario here. So here’s the new plan: We have the deactivation code for the ZR-57. We disarm the bomb—leaving the seps with nothing but a big, radioactive paperweight.”

            The ensign continues after him, “You’ll have to hijack the separatists’ comm system to broadcast the code. This data spike should do the trick.” Jorgan looks down slightly, “I never thought it’d come to this, Sgt. Tae. I don’t need to tell you what happens if you don’t pull this off.” I swallow, “I’ve never failed a mission before, and I’m not gonna start today.” He slightly smiles, “That’s what I like to hear! You have the coordinates for the seps base. I’m sure you can guess how much security they’re likely to have. Breach the perimeter, use the data spike on the comm terminal and shut the ZR-57 down for good. Thousands of lives are on the line here, Tae. We’re counting on you.” _Oh, no pressure or anything like that, no totally not._ I nod, “I won’t fail you, Lieutenant.” He nods, “Good luck, Tae.” And with that I’m dismissed leaving me to dwell on what could have happened to my squad. As I leave the barracks I hear running footsteps coming towards me, “What’s wrong?” _Cheyanne_ … I look up, “We’ve lost contact with my squad in a separatist base have in a volcano.” She gasps covering her mouth, before saying “As luck would have in we’re heading there too, so we’ll help.” I look over and see the guy from yesterday, Corso. I swallow, “You will?” She nods and I hug her, “Thank you! Come on, we better hurry.”

            Thankfully we arrive at the volcano quickly and head inside the base. Corso whistles, “How in the blazes in the separatists afford this!?” Looking around as well, I state “Jorgan was right, they must be getting Imperial help.” With the three of us, the separatists don’t even stand a chance and we quickly get to where the comm terminal is. Chey and Corso clear the room with me before leaving me alone to put in the data spike. My holo beeps, answering it Jorgan appears, “You did it, Tae! That was some top-notch soldiering… we’re all proud of you.” I nod, “Thank you, sir.” He grunts, “Looks like we’ve got a whole new problem. Not all of those guards you killed were seps. Imperial soldiers operating right alongside the separatists. We need to know how deep this connection goes. I want you to continue further into the base. Finding the rest of Havoc is now priority one. If they’ve been captured, they might be able to tell us more about what’s going on in there. If at all possible, you should also retrieve the ZR-57. It costs about forty million credits, so Command would probably like it back. But your squad-mates are the main objective now.” I nod, “If my squad-mates are here, I will bring them home.” He slightly smiles, “Good luck, Tae.”

            “Almost done,” I say as I rejoin Chey and Corso then we climb higher into the base, killing any Imperials and Separatists we see as we go up three flights of stairs where we all need to go. We split up only into two different hangers. As I walk into the hanger, I hesitate when I see my entire squad standing next to Imperial soldiers and the ZR-57. “Sergeant, I thought my orders were very clear. You aren’t supposed to be here,” Tavus says when he sees me. I hear a weapon being charged behind me, I slightly turn to see Wraith pointing her rifle at me, “I will take her.” I close my eyes as Tavus says “No, Wraith. Tae deserves to know the truth. I had hoped it wouldn’t come to this. I harbor no ill will toward you. You’re everything a warrior should be. But I’m afraid the Republic no longer values her warriors—even the very best among them.” I sigh, “You’ve fought the Empire for years—do you really think things are better over there?”

            “The Empire respects warriors, Sergeant. The Republic’s top officials, on the other hand, have decided to cast us aside. The truth is that no matter what they may say, the Republic Senate doesn’t actually believe it can win another war against the Empire. That makes you and I, a threat. Every Havoc Squad victory fires up people’s imaginations, fills them with pride—which means the bureaucrats can’t afford to let us keep succeeding,” Tavus states. “We are not fighting for the bureaucrats, Commander. We are fighting for the people they are meant to serve. The ones who can’t fight for themselves, the ones that need our strength and protection. We are fighting for freedom,” I emotionally say, pleading him, all of them to come to their senses. “If only you’d been with us longer, Tae, you would understand. You might’ve even come with us,” Tavus states shaking his head, “The Republic abandoned us. During a mission on Ando Prime, they simply left us to die. But I hope try to persuade you. Honestly, I hope you die with your ideals intact. The rest of us will never have that luxury.” I plead them one last time, “It’s not too late, Tavus. You can still turn back.” He scoffs, “Turn back to what? The Republic that wants me dead and gone? No, Sergeant, I think not.” Fuse brings my attention to him when he coughs. “Oh, uh, by the way, good work finding the ZR-57 for us. We were starting to worry that the separatists might, you know, waste our big present for the Empire,” Fuse states matter-of-factly. “But thanks to you, we can now present the Empire with this magnificent tool of destruction,” Needles says. I slightly smirk, “The Imperials won’t be very impressed once they realize the bomb is neutralized.” Tavus shakes his head, “A clever bluff, Sergeant, but it won’t help you.”

            “We’d better get a move on, boss. If we don’t break atmo in the next few minutes, every gun in the sky will have a clear shot at us,” Gearbox says to Tavus. “Time, we were off. Colonel Vorr? Please give the sergeant the warrior’s death she deserves,” Tavus says just before five Imperials start shooting at me letting the traitors leave peacefully. “It’s been an honor serving with you, Sergeant Tae. Goodbye.  I roll to the nearest cover with only a shot to my upper thigh, where I stick a kolto shot into it before watching the traitors’ shuttle leave the hanger. “You’ll regret this, Tavus. I won’t rest until I’ve taken you all down,” I state before returning fire to the Imperials. I work on the four grunts before directing my fire on the Colonel. The Imps weren’t all that bad of shots as I barely able to limp out of the hanger and into the hallway. When I nearly fall, I hear hurried footsteps run over to me and Chey’s voice saying “Oh stars, Jessi! Corso help me with her!” Who’s right by her side asking me, “What happened?” I shake my head, internally fighting on whether or not to tell her, “My squad is gone. I’m the only one left.” Chey closes her eyes and I know that she’s knows that there’s a bigger story had that but leaves it alone for now. “Corso, can you get her by yourself?” just has he picks me up bridal style, _A little warning would have been nice_. “Good then, I’ll clear the way back to the speeders,” Chey states, I’m surprised how much of a leader she sounds like. Once we reach them, Corso places me behind Chey then gets on the speeder I rode.

            “Chey, I need to go in alone. I’ll tell you what happened later, okay?” I tell Cheyanne as I get off, she nods and hugs me whispering, “Be strong.” As I walk into mission control I hear Jorgan say, “General, with all due respect, how can you do this? I’ve served with your Infantry Command for years.” _A G_ _eneral is here?_ “That’s enough, Jorgan, this wasn’t my choice. But a defection of this scale—someone has to swing, and the powers that be say it’s you.” A new voice says, most likely the General. “So, I see bad news travels fast. What’s going on?” I cautiously ask. “Your squad full of traitors just destroyed my career, Sgt. Tae. Command can’t punish them, so they’re burning me instead,” an irritated Jorgan says. “You must be our last loyal Havoc member. I’m General Vander, Republic Chief of Operations for Ord Mantell. It’s a pleasure to finally meet you,” Vander says ignoring what Jorgan just said, “On behalf of the Republic and the people of Ord Mantell, I want to thank and congratulate you for your courageous actions in disabling the stolen ZR-57. Your heroic efforts saved countless innocent lives. In recognition of your valiant service, I hereby promote you to the rank of Lieutenant. Congratulations.” _Okay was not expecting that…_ “Thank you, sir. I’m honored.”

           “Now, Lieutenant Tae, as the last remaining member of Havoc, the duty of rebuilding the squad falls to you. Havoc is your command,” I swallow as he continues, “To get the process started, I’ve decided to assign Sergeant Jorgan here as Havoc’s first new member.” I look over at him, “It’ll be nice have you in the unit, Jorgan.” He folds his arms, “I’ll take the Havoc patch and the sergeant stripes if it means I get to grind them into Tavus’ face before we kill him.” We both look over to Vander as he says, “This is the best I can do for you, Jorgan. You’re a good man, and we need good people now more than ever,” He pauses as he starts pacing, “I don’t know what Tavus is planning, but he knows the inner workings of our military better than anyone. The destruction that he could cause is limitless.” I shake my head, “I won’t allow Tavus and the others to harm the Republic, sir.” He slightly smiles, “Just don’t underestimate them, Lieutenant. Tavus and his followers won’t be easy to take down. In any case, your work here is done. I’ve got a shuttle prepped-you’re going to Coruscant for your next assignment so both of you pack up. When you arrive on Coruscant tomorrow, report immediately to the head of SpecForce division, General Garza. She’ll be issuing your orders from now on.” I nod, “Understood, sir.” He slightly smiles, “You’d better get moving. Good luck to you both.” Jorgan and I walk out of the room together.

           Thankfully I was brilliant enough not to unpack anything, so I just take a quick shower and change out of my armor. When I walk out, I see Jorgan already waiting for me when we leave the barracks, but we stop to wait for Corso and Cheyanne. I look over at him, “I’m sorry about this, Jorgan. But I have to say I’m glad that it means I can work with you some more. To prove to you I’m not a rookie,” I say with a slight smile. He looks over at me but doesn’t say anything just continues growling. I sigh, “You realize that ignoring me isn’t going to solve anything, right?” He responds with a grunt, I groan, “Fine… whatever… just continue to ignore me and growl… Makes you appear very friendly…” As I see a group of people hurry by after staring at the growling Cathar. I fall silent until Chey and Corso come out of the warehouse. “Hey Jess, who is this?” Chey asks as she gets closer. “This is Aric Jorgan. He was coordinating our ops and now has been transferred under my command.” She raises an eyebrow, since I told her he was a Lieutenant earlier. “I was… um… promoted to Lieutenant since I am the last remaining member of Havoc and Jorgan here was… undeservingly demoted.” He finally looks up at me and I nervously swallow. I see Chey grin “Hi, it’s nice to meet you. I’m her best friend, Chey and this here is Corso Riggs.” Jorgan nods, “I saw you working with Tae during her ops. You do good work for a smuggler.” Her grin gets bigger, “Why thank you, I think!?” Causing me to roll my eyes, _so now he speaks_ , “So where are you going now?” She swallows, “Coruscant, Skavak took my ship to Coruscant. We’re taking a shuttle to Carrick Station then leaving for there tomorrow.” I grin at that, “So are we!” then the four of us head to the Spaceport.

           Before we can get on the shuttle, two men get off and step in front of us. “Now this is what I call service. We step off the shuttle, and the bounty we’re here to collect is already waiting. Perfect,” says the Kel Dor. “I’m sick of being cooped up on starships, Xo’ru. I want to run around and shoot things for a while,” the Mon Calamari complains. “Easy, Kindin. Greetings, gentle-being Captain. We are here on behalf of Rogun the Butcher. It seems he’d like a word with you,” Xo’ru says. “You must be Rogun’s bounty hunters,” Chey says confidently, “but I’m a little busy trying to get back the guns and my ship so if you could just come back later, in would be greatly appreciated.” Xo’ru crosses his arms, “No can do, so don’t make this difficult. We get a substantial bonus if we bring you in alive.” She acts as if she’s considering it, “Oh, sorry don’t think that can fits in my calendar. Rain check?!” Xo’ru sighs, “You should have just surrendered.” Kindin cuts in, “But I’m glad you didn’t!” The resulting fire fight was rather short but it was four against two. Kindin felt first with blaster shots to his body from Chey and a well-placed sniper shot to his head from Jorgan. Corso and I focus all our fire on Xo’ru but it still took all four of us to take him down. After they both have fallen we quickly get in the shuttle. Once we arrive at the station, Jorgan and I split from Cheyanne and Corso.

           “So, Havoc Squad. Best of the best. Can’t say I’m thrilled about the demotion, but it’s an honor to be here, ma’am,” Jorgan says once we’re sitting at a table on the station cantina. I smile at his use of ma’am, “I realize the circumstances weren’t ideal but I’m glad you’re with me, Jorgan.” He slightly smiles before he wipes it away, “A spot in Havoc was the least they could do. Four years at the Academy, seven years in the field, decorations, commendations… Would’ve made captain soon if Command hadn’t hung me out to dry.” I sigh, “We both know Tavus’ defection wasn’t your fault.” He scoffs, “Tell that to the brass when they need a scapegoat. But hey, water under the bridge, Command put me in Havoc to help you find Tavus and I intend to do just that. I’ve hunted Imperials from one side of the galaxy to the next. Used to command the Deadeyes—finest sniper squad in the Republic.” I half smile, “So I have a former Deadeye has a squad-mate, imagine that. Can’t wait to see what you can do, Jorgan.” He nods, “You won’t be disappointed. So you’re friends with a smuggler, how did you manage that?” I look up at him from my plate, “Cheyanne and I grew up together. Her family basically adopted me as their own which I was more than happy with. She only started doing cargo a year ago when she got her ship for her sixteenth birthday, by then I’d already graduated from the Academy and was in my third or four posting.” He chuckles “Wow, so why did you join the military?” I look back down, “Because of my grandfather, I joined Special Forces because of Cheyanne’s little sister. She was taken by pirates then sold into slavery when she was four. That was ten years ago and they finally found her yesterday.” A tear drops into my plate, and I try to compose myself before looking up.

            When I do look up, “I’m sorry about that. I’m usually better than this.” He shrugs, “It’s okay… understandable really, with all that’s going on lately.” I give him a slight smile, “Thank you, I think…” I look over at Chey’s and Corso’s table and see a silver protocol droid talking to them, _A7?_ _What is he doing here?_ I get up and motion for Jorgan to follow me just in time to hear Chey say “We’ll meet her in the Tower.” Once we’re closer I say, “Was that A7 I just saw?” Chey nods chuckling, “Master Alena wants to meet with all of us tomorrow and Talia will be joining us on Coruscant.” I smile, “Well it will be good to see them both.” Chey nods “Yes, it will be. I don’t know about you but I need sleep.” I nod, “Definitely after my day. Rooming together, Chey?” She smirks, “We did only get two rooms for four. So yes, in less you plan on bunking with Jorgan or Corso.” I blush and she slightly giggles for which I lightly slap her arm. “Okay boys, I hope you two can get a long because I have some overdue teasing to do,” she brightly says, I groan. The four of us head up the elevator to the rooms then Corso and Jorgan walk us to our door where Chey says, “Good night, Jorgan, Corso.” They both nod but Corso adds a half smile and a wink, I look over at Chey and see she’s blushing, _interesting._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ==========================  
> Hope ya'll enjoy it and sorry for any mistakes.  
> Positive feedback is greatly appreciated!


	6. Jedi and Generals

=-=-=-=-=-=

            “So, tell me what’s up,” Cheyanne states once the door closes. I sigh before unconsciously rolling up into a little ball on a bed, “My entire squad defected to the Empire.” She gasps covering her mouth with her hand “Stars, Jess! I’m so sorry. What you going to do now?” The memory of a few hours earlier comes back, causing me to say, “Get them to come back or make sure they don’t harm the Republic.” And I know it will be one or the other, knowing the kind of damage they could do, and I’m sure as heck not going to let them. “So Sergeant Jorgan is pretty cute…” Chey states out of the blue, and I can feel myself blush “I… I have no idea what you’re talking about, Chey.” She scoffs “Yeah, sure… and I’m a senator.” I snort then Chey starts tickling me causing me to giggle uncontrollably. “Fine, you win. Yes, he’s attractive… but I don’t think anything is going to happen between us,” I state once she stops. Chey gives me an unconvinced look, “He called me a rookie, Chey! Not to mention that my squad is the reason he got demoted or that I’m his CO now.” She rolls her eyes “Oh, come on. Be positive here! Serving on the same squad will let you both get to know each other better. Then who knows he may fall obsessively in love with you, as Cathars do.” _And there’s my best friend,_ “I guess you’re right.” She frowns slightly then tickles me again, “You guess I’m right!?”

            “Okay, okay I give. You’re right,” I say surrendering until I get an idea, “So what about you and Corso?!” She blushes and attempts to hide her face. I tilt my head before squealing, “You like him!? That’s adorable, Chey!” She groans laying down on the bed, “There’s something about him that’s cute, that’s all. Not to mention that he’s a gentleman.” I smirk, hoping there is more than that, “Yeah,” then I look at the chrono and gasp “Come on, we need to go to sleep!” She rolls her eyes at me but gets ready for bed anyway.

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

            I’m the first one to wake up as always so when I get up I make sure that I start a some caff, knowing Chey as well as I do. The blend I pick will take longer to brew but I have a good hour before Chey wakes up, so I don’t mind as I hate it anyways. Once I’ve started it, I change into some work-out shorts and a sports bra to head out for a stretch and a jog. After stretching in the comfort of the room, I exit running straight into a very firm chest of Aric Jorgan and fall back into the, thankfully, now closed door. Jorgan chuckles then holds his hand out to help me up, I grab it thankful he isn’t making a big deal about this. “So, um…” I pause taking in his appearance, he’s wearing a tank top and shorts. “Are you going for a jog?” I finally get out, cursing the fact that I am now blushing again. _This man is going to be the death of me._ He gives me a slight smile before nodding, “A run but yeah,” he swallows, “would you care to join me?” I give him a smile, “Sure.” He nods then steps back.

            The most of run was thankfully uneventful, no making a fool of myself and I kept up quite well with him considering. During one of our breaks Corso walks up in workout attire, “May I join you?” I turn to Jorgan who nods then both turn to me, I give Corso a friendly smile, “Sure, why not.” Both seem pleased with my statement, and the rest of the run was Jorgan and Corso talking about weapons. About thirty minutes until I know Cheyanne will be up, I say goodbye to the men and head back to the room to have a shower. When I step out of the refresher, I see that Chey is awake slipping her caff and looking at something on her datapad.

            Smiling to myself, I sing “Good Morning!” causing her to jump. “Stars Jess! Don’t you know better than to scare me! You’re lucky I didn’t have my blaster handy!” she exclaims once she's calmed down. I chuckle “Sorry Chey, didn’t realize,” as I sit down next to her, “Whatcha reading?” She looks back down at the datapad, “A message from a dead friend.” I look at her sympathetically as she gets up and enters the refresher. When she steps back out she’s fully dressed and we silently head down to the cantina until I ask “You okay, Chey?” She just nods, and I know she’s hurting about something but she’ll tell me eventually, hopefully. The men are already down and eating, Corso waves us over, “Good morning ladies,” I give him another polite smile and Chey just nods. After Chey and I order, a pale yellowish green male Twi’lek dressed in a Republic Captain uniform walks up. “Lieutenant Tae, I’m sorry to interrupt but I need to speak with you.” I sigh but wordlessly get up and follow him.

            “Sorry I didn’t introduce myself, Lieutenant. I am Captain Jefris,” he chuckles as I hurriedly salute him, “Stand at ease.” He pauses to clear his throat, “Your achievements in service to the Republic and position as commanding officer of Havoc Squad have earned you, eligibility for advanced specialization training. This training will continue throughout your career and grant you access to the very latest in combat techniques and advanced equipment. Congratulations. You’re officially authorized to enroll in either the Vanguard or the Commando advanced specialization training program. Speak with your designated training officer to make your selection.” I nod, “If we’re finished, I’ll talk to my training officer right away.” He gives me a smile, “We’re done here, Lieutenant. Good luck in your choice and your future missions. Dismissed.” And with that I give him a parting salute and walk back to our table where my food just arrived at.

            Nobody asks me anything as I sit down to start eating, but I know that Chey is just dying to ask. After we’ve finished, Chey gets up and exclaims, “Tali!” and goes to give her sister a hug. “Hey Chey,” Talia chuckles as she returns the hug as the men and I get up. “Hi Tali, long time no see,” I say once the hug breaks. “Stars Jessi,” Talia exclaims as she tightly hugs me. When both men cough, Chey starts talking, “So we’re all going to Coruscant. I’m going to find my ship.” Knowing that she didn’t mean to say that, I'm quick say “And I’m going because I’m now the CO of Havoc.” Tali gives me a smile, “Congrats on the promotion Jess,” then turns to her sister now frowning, “Why do you need to find your ship?” I’m surprised that Corso steps in front of her “Hey, leave her alone,” Tali raises an eyebrow at Chey, in a silent question. “Corso, it’s fine!” Chey exclaims uncharacteristically. Corso raises his hands in mock surrender “Sorry, I just don’t know who she is and I don’t trust her especially if she talks to you like that, Captain.”

            “She is my sister and a Jedi Knight, Corso, so she can talk to me however she pleases,” Chey states before walking off. Tali sighs, “Sorry about that. I forgot to introduce myself, more worried about my sister. I’m Talia Draé,” she pauses when a little astromech droid bumps into her leg, “and this is T7.” She turns to me, “Is she alright?” I shrug, “Her ship got stolen the same day you found Allura and…” She grimaces, “The same time Braden was killed.” Surprised about that I just nod as the men look at each other questioningly. When Corso goes to follow Chey, Tali stops him “I know you mean well but when she is like this, it’s best to let her cool down by herself.” I nod furiously, remembering the time I’d gotten her mad at me, “Yeah, following her will only make it worse. I’ve learned from experience.” Tali chuckles, remembering as well, “I remember that. She frightened you so much, you wouldn’t be anywhere near her for a good month.” I furiously shake my head, “Untrue! Oh, almost forgot this is Corso Riggs and this is my only squad mate, Aric Jorgan.” Tali smiles at them, “Nice to meet to both.” Corso rubs the back of his head nervously “Sorry about what I said, I didn’t mean to offend.” She chuckles, “None taken I assure you.” He flashes her a smile.

            Cheyanne comes back just after Talia’s finished eating, so Tali stands when her sister approaches giving her a big hug. Chey returns the hug then pulls away, “Are we all set to go? The first shuttle should be here now.” Corso awkwardly gets up, “All set.” Chey looks to me and Jorgan and we say together, “We’re good to go.” She then looks at Tali, who smiles, “I’m always ready.” Chey grins “Alright, let’s go.” The shuttle is waiting for us when we arrive and we hurry abroad. The ride to Coruscant is slightly awkward and quiet, so we are all thankful when we land at the Spaceport. “So Master Alena wanted to speak with all of us,” Chey says. I smile as I know the two sisters are having a telepathic conservation, which ends with Tali rolling her eyes and nodding “Okay, so we’ll have to check in with Customs then we can head to the Senate Building.” And just as she finishes, A7 walks up, “Apologies young Mistresses, but urgent matters have changed Mistress Alena’s plans to speak with all of you privately.” The silver protocol droid turns to Tali, “Young Mistress Talia, you are urgently required. Something awful has happened and you are needed.” The young Jedi nods “Of course, A7. Teeseven and I just need to go to Customs first.” A7 shakes his head “There is no need, I have already done so.” She sighs but nods, “Then lead the way,” then turns back to us, “See you later.” We all nod before her and T7 follow the droid then the four of us split into pairs as we go check in.

            “Wow. You spend enough time on a backwater like Ord Mantell and you almost forget what a civilized planet is supposed to look like,” states as he looks around as I check us in. I turn around as he continues, “I did my officer training here, back before I was deployed to Ord Mantell. There was still a fair bit of reconstruction going on then, rebuilding things the Imperial destroyed. I still can’t believe the Empire managed to sack Coruscant back in the war. The capital of the entire Republic, and they raided it like some Outer Rim mudball.” I nod “Yeah, I remember that day. It was the worst day of my life. I had always thought that the capital would be better defended.” He nods, “The Republic committed its forces to engaging the Empire on outlying worlds. Defending Coruscant was an afterthought. Anyways we should get moving—don’t want to keep anyone important waiting.” I nod, before we walk over to Cheyanne and Corso, who just ended a holo, then together we head outside. As we walk toward the speeders, I hear Jorgan say, “I’ve been to Coruscant twice, but it still amazes me. We’re standing in the beating heart of the Republic.” Seeing the Senate Tower in front of us, I motion to it, “So we’re going in there and you’re going…?” Chey looks down at something and groans, “To Old Galactic Market.” I grimace, remembering the gangs that have since gained control, “Be careful out there.” She nods knowingly, “Good luck to you both.” As Jorgan and I continue on, he says, “The Senate tower, I’ve never actually been inside before. I’m looking forward to it.”

            “Yes, Senator Arnus, that’s exactly what I’m saying. I can assure you that I’ve seen no shred of proof supporting these rumors of a defection within SpecForce division,” we hear General Garza say we approach her office. “General, surely you understand, we need more than just your assurances in a matter of this…” the holographic Senator Arnus says before being interrupted by Garza, “My assurances are what you’re getting, Senator. They’ll have to be enough. Now if you’ll excuse me, I seem to have a guest,” as she sees us enter now. “But Gen…” the Senator starts before Garza ends the call. “Impeccable timing, Lieutenant Tae. I’m General Garza. It’s good to finally meet you in person,” Garza says walking out from behind the holo terminal. “It’s an honor to be here, General,” I state as I give her a sharp salute. “I have to congratulate you—surviving the ordeal on Ord Mantell took skill and courage. I’m impressed,” Garza states rather emotionlessly.

            I smile timidly, “Just doing my duty.” Jorgan looks over at me approvingly as Garza continues, “All the same, you got more done than most other soldiers would have in the situation. Sergeant Jorgan, I’m pleased to have you with us as well. General Vander holds you in very high regard.” Out of the corner of my eye I see Jorgan swallow and nod, “Thank you, sir. But General Vander has an odd way of showing his ‘regard.’” I bite my lip, _oh Jorgan…_ Garza continues, “Vander did the best he could for you, Sergeant. And I’d say a position in the Republic’s most decorated Special Forces squad is doing very well indeed. It’s regrettable about Tavus and the others. I knew they were upset, but I never imagined they would be so foolish as to defect. Nevertheless, whatever your former squad-mates once were to us, they are now extremely dangerous enemies of the Republic.” I nod, “Protecting the Republic from its enemies is our duty.” She smiles, “I’m glad I can depend on you to do what’s necessary, Lieutenant.”

            “So, let’s load up a strike shuttle and hunt Tavus and the rest of them down like the scum they are,” Jorgan says once Garza is finished. Garza chuckles, “I would very much like to give that order, Sergeant, but I’m afraid we’ve discovered some new information since you left Ord Mantell yesterday. Our intelligence shows that hundreds of other Special Forces soldiers have followed Tavus and defected to the Empire.” I groan, closing my eyes, _what has my squad started!_ Garza continues, “In short, Lieutenant, we have a catastrophe on our hands.” I state with my eyes still closed, “I can’t believe so many soldiers could abandon our cause.” I open them to see Garza nod grimly, “It’s a dire situation. But we aren’t out of options yet. We have one powerful asset that Tavus and his followers haven’t planned for,” I tilt my head wondering what she means, when she points to me, “You. Tavus believes you’re dead on Ord Mantell, and that Havoc’s deflection is still a secret. Right now, Tavus will be securing his armament and supplies. We need to cut those supply line while he isn’t expecting it.” I nod, “Makes sense to me.” She slightly smirks, “In the past, when Havoc needed supplies out of the normal Republic channels. They'd purchase the items from underworld groups here on Coruscant. I have units working to cut off these underworld sources, but two organizations are proving difficult: The Black Sun and the Migrant Merchants’ Guild.” I grimace, knowing their history, “I’ll take care of them for you, sir.” Jorgan grunts his approval and Garza smiles, “You’ll begin with the Migrant Merchants’ Guild. Out intelligence indicates that they’re supplying Tavus with a full platoon of advanced war droids. Your mission, in the broad strokes, will be to locate the droid shipments going to Tavus and destroy them.” I nod, “I’ll see it done.” She nods, “One of my people, Corporal Garrum, will meet you outside the Migrant Merchants’ Guild’s territory with the full operational details. These missions are critical, Lieutenant. Our future success or failure is contingent on how well-supplied Tavus and his followers are.” _Oh, so no pressure or anything,_ “I won’t fail.” She smiles approvingly, “Good. The safety of the entire Republic depends on your success. I’ll be observing your operations from here through your armor-cam. Good luck, Lieutenant—dismissed.”

 _I do not feel comfortable working with someone who can lie so easily. Did she not think that we heard her say she doesn’t have any proof of defections then tells us that hundreds have! I can already tell that this is going to be a long…_ my thought stops abruptly as I run into yet another person today. “Oh stars, I’m sorry Tali. I was lost in my thoughts,” I say, before turning harshly to Jorgan, “Why didn’t you warn me?” He swallows and Talia cuts in “It’s fine, Jess, really. Where are you heading in such a hurry?” I sigh, remembering the mission, “It’s something to do with the Migrant Merchants’ Guild.” Tali slightly smiles, “Same here.” Thankful that I won’t be going in alone, I return the smile, “Good than we can travel together. Cheyanne and Corso are already near there if I remember right.” She nods, then the three of us plus T7 head to where the city speeders are, getting a couple then head to the Old Galactic Market.

            When we pass the Dealer’s Den Cantina, Cheyanne and a very irritated Corso emerge. “Okay, what happened?” Talia asks as soon as she sees the mood of the two. Corso looks at Cheyanne, clearly irritated, “Are you going to tell her, or should I?” Chey scoffs and ignores him, “We have to go to the Migrant Merchants Guild headquarters and by the looks of it so are you four, mind if we tag along?” Tali chuckles, “Of course not.” We all stop once again so I can speak with Corporal Garrum. “Lieutenant Tae! Corporal Garrum, sir! Ready to brief you on the Migrant Merchants’ Guild at your command, sir!” he starts as soon as we enter already giving me a salute. Suppressing a groan, I return the salute “Let’s get down to business.” Garrum nods, “Here’s the situation, sir. The Migrant Merchants’ Guild is a criminal organization comprised primarily of non-humans whose homes were destroyed by the Empire’s assault on Coruscant. They began squatting in this district and refused to leave when Republic security tried to push them out. There’s been an uneasy truce ever since.” I nod, _nothing new there,_ “What’s the op?”

            “General Garza informed me that your primary target within the guild is a cyborg inventor named Krel,” Garrum states, I internally groan as he continues, “Reports indicate that Krel’s strength and speed are at least triple the human norm with a genius-level intelligence to boot. Taking him down will be a real challenge, sir. Additionally, Krel has designed and constructed a full platoon of advanced war droids that we believe are intended for Tavus and the other SpecForce traitors.” Jorgan looks over at me, “A full platoon is a lot of firepower to lose. Tavus is really going to feel this one.” I slightly smile as Garrum continues on, “General Garza wants all of Krel’s war droids neutralized before they can be shipped out, sir.” I nod, “Take out everything that clanks when it walks—no problem,” I can see Jorgan slightly smile at that. “Krel has his war droids patrolling the Migrant Merchants’ Guild base. General Garza wants them all found and destroyed,” Garrum states. I nod, “Consider it done.” Garrum slightly smiles, “That concludes the briefing, sir. Good luck and good hunting.”

            As we rejoin the group and head to the Guild’s territory, I hear Jorgan say, “Barricades, armed standoffs… it feels like we’re back on Ord Mantell, not the capital of the Republic.” I nod in agreement as I watch Tali leap to the largest group of guild members while Cheyanne shoots from the nearest cover along with Corso and I, with Jorgan as a sniper and T7, our healer and support. We clear a path together until Cheyanne and Corso leave us to complete whatever brought them here then Jorgan, Talia, T7 and I continue until we reach the warehouse Tali enters, we part with a nod. Further into the Guild’s territory we start running across the war droid containers and droids, which Jorgan and I each destroy whenever we run across one before entering the laboratory. As we enter there are two sentry droids and two technicians behind the front desk. Jorgan and I look at each other before opening fire and killing the techs and destroying the droids, then we turn right to destroy the droids in there and a large prototype war droid before going across the hall further into the lab. After destroying all the droids, we finally come across Krel himself and disable the force field by destroying it.

            “Republic scum. Do you believe you can come here and destroy my creations without conscience?” Krel exclaims once he sees us, “When you die here today, your feeble Republic will learn what it means to meddle in my work.” I roll my eyes, “In the name of the Republic, I order you to surrender.” He scoffs, “Surrender? To you? Don’t be ridiculous. I could crush your skull with a single hand. You’re far to late—my plans are already in motion. Soon, the people of this world will be brought to their knees by my greatest creations. My masterpieces.” Internally groaning, I grudgingly ask “What are you talking about, Krel?” He smirks, “I have taken ordinary humans off the streets and implanted several of them with advanced cybernetic enhancements. Their abilities now rival even my own. The cyborgs’ enhancements are internal and undetectable. The subjects themselves don’t know who among them was augmented. And neither will anyone else—until it’s much too late.” I slightly growl, “I’m going to make you pay for hurting those people, Krel.” He chuckles darkly, “Fool. This cannot end in any way but your death. After you’ve been dealt with, I’ll release my creations back to their normal lives, to wait until my hidden programming activates.”

            Jorgan looks at me, “This guy is full of it. I don’t buy any of this.” I nod in agreement as Krel continues, “Once my masterpieces begin their work, the people of Coruscant will never be safe again.” My jaw tightens, “That’s not going to happen.” He chuckles then smirks, “You can do nothing to stop it. All you can do now is die. Destroy her,” then he has four guard droids attack us as well as himself. As soon as Krel falls dead, my holo chimes, groaning I answer it. “Come in, Lieutenant. I want you to move immediately and destroy the cyborgs that Krel created,” Garza states as soon as she appears, “We need to deal with them now, before they can disappear into the normal population. These situations are never easy—these people did not chose to be what they now are. But many more lives could be at stake. You have to eliminate Krel’s creations.” I close my eyes, “We can’t know for sure if Krel was telling the truth, sir.” I can see her jaw tighten, “Whether Krel was bluffing or not, these cyborgs are a risk we cannot allow. I’m giving you the kill order, Lieutenant. I take full responsibility for the consequences. Now get it done.” I internally scoff, _yeah but at the end of the day I’m still killing innocent civilians_ , “Killing these people is wrong and you know it, Garza.”

            “It’s right for the Republic. That’s our only concern,” Garza says, my respect for her vanishing by the nanosecond, “Garza out.” I stuff the holo away angrily, as Jorgan states, “This is a waste of time. We should be going after the traitors, not gunning people down just because some madman said they’re dangerous.” I breathe in deeply “I know, Jorgan, that’s why we aren’t. I don’t care what she says.” He looks at me approvingly, “Whatever we’re going to do, let’s do it fast.” I nod in agreement before heading to find where Krel’s locked these poor people up. “Stay back! The door is locked and sealed! You can’t get in!” says a feminine voice on the other side of the door, “We heard all of the fighting, and we heard you talking to that freak Krel! We’re not coming out until you swear you won’t hurt us!” I sigh, “Just open the door, let’s talk about this,” feeling like I’m talking to one of my siblings instead of a group of scared civilians. “But we’re not cyborgs!” comes another voice masculine this time, “I’d know if I was some half-machine freak! This is insane!”

            “You out there!” comes another man’s voice, “Listen—I’m not sure about these others, but I can assure you that I’m not a cyborg!” I sigh again and look at Jorgan who is frowning at the door, as the first man says, “What? Are you calling me a freak like Krel? I’m not a freak! Maybe you’re the cyborg, and you’re trying to trick everyone!” I groan, face palming, as the argument continues, “I am not! He spent far more time operating on you that he did on me, so if anyone is…” Thankfully the woman interrupts, “Both of you stop it! None of us are cyborgs! That’s all there is to it!” I close my eyes, “Prove you aren’t cyborgs, and I’ll let you go.” The woman answers this time, “What do you mean, ‘prove we aren’t cyborgs?’ You might as well ask us to prove we’re not rancors! It’s obvious, isn’t it? This is insane! Even if a few of us are cyborgs, would you really murder all of us just to be sure none of the cyborgs escape?” I groan and close my eyes, “You’re right… this is absurd. I can’t do this.”

            “Then you won’t hurt us? You’ll let us go?” the woman says. “Give me your names and identification numbers, and I’ll let you go,” I state, _better to be safe than sorry._ “What? So you can track us and kill us later? No way!” the first man exclaims. The woman, apparently, the voice of reason, answers “If it gets us out of here alive, then it’s worth it. We’ll put the information on a datapad for you, soldier. Okay stand back—I’m going to open the door.” She pauses as the door opens and three humans walk out, and hands me a data pad, “Here’s the data, soldier. Thank you for sparing us. Let’s go home, everyone!” I give them a smile, “Stay safe out there.” The woman smiles, “Thanks again soldier. Farewell.” As soon as they walk away my holo chimes again and Garza appears, “Lieutenant! My orders were perfectly clear: eliminate Krel’s cyborgs.” My jaw tightens, “With all due respect, General, I could not obey those orders.” Her eye narrow slightly, “My orders are not polite suggestions, Lieutenant. You don’t choose to follow them—you follow them. When you are on a mission, you listen to my orders then your brain, then your heart. In that order. There’s no room for sentiment in our line of work. There should be similarly little room for it in you, or we’re doomed to fail.” My jaw tightens, “If we’re heartless, what separates us from the Empire?”

            “We are heartless so that the people of the Republic don’t have to be, Lieutenant. So that the Republic does not become the Empire. Always remember that. Return to my office now—we need to discuss your next assignment. Garza out.” I growl slightly as we exit the lab, _'we_ _have to be heartless so the Republic isn’t!' Oh, BUT esteemed General Garza WE represent the Republic, and if WE ARE heartless than so is our beloved Republic. Grandpa would be so ashamed of our Military now, heck even I am._ My train of thought ends, when I see Talia leave the warehouse she went into earlier “Oh there you are, thought you left already.” She chuckles sadly “No, had to get some information on some classified project, only the thing is I’m not so sure it’s classified anymore.” I lift an eyebrow up in a silent question as Jorgan exclaims, “Story for another time!” as more guild members come into view. We fight through them and head back the way we came just as a smiling Cheyanne and a grumpy Corso exit the Dealers Den cantina for the second time. “Bout time you four finished!” Chey exclaims when she sees us, “Cowboy and I almost have our next clue on finding Skavak.” Tali looks at me questioningly, then remembering that she doesn’t know who the man is, I whisper “The man who stole her ship.” She groans and I know she and Chey are having another 'talk', as Tali's groan becomes a sigh “Come on guys, there’s a security breach I have to deal with.” Cheyanne chuckles as we all head to the city speeders and return to the Senate tower where Talia, T7, Jorgan and I enter while Cheyanne and Corso explore the parks outside.

            “Ah, Lieutenant, I trust no more need to be said about your work against the Migrant Merchants’ Guild. Let’s move on to your next target: The Black Sun. A powerful organization composed of Coruscant’s most violent criminals,” Garza pauses as she begins pacing, “Black Sun has a wide network of sources providing them with the deadliest weaponry available, including a powerful nerve agent that they’re selling to Tavus in bulk.” I sigh silently, “We can’t let that nerve gas reach Tavus.” Garza smiles slightly, “A SpecForce sergeant, Jaxo, has carried out some advance reconnaissance of Black Sun’s headquarters. Tomorrow, you’ll rendezvous with her for a detailed plan of attack. We can’t risk any of this nerve gas failing into Tavus’ hands, Lieutenant. Use all necessary force. Dismissed.” I leave with a parting salute, before exiting her office. As we start heading to the front of the tower we run into, Jedi Masters Alena Draé, Orgus Din, and Bela Kiwiiks, a Togruta Jedi, along with a very familiar Mon Calamari, General Var Surthra. “Ah, what a pleasant surprise. I heard about your promotion, Lieutenant Tae, congratulations. Your grandfather would be proud,” Var Suthra states, though after I salute him, he chuckles and I turn to the Jedi Masters. “Master Alena,” I start after glancing at Jorgan, “I’m sorry we couldn’t meet with you earlier but I hope we see you at the Sky Palace.” She nods, “That I will. Have a good day, Lieutenant Tae.” I smile and give her a salute “You as well, Master Alena.” Then the three Masters and the General all continue on. I look at Jorgan who’s eyes followed the retreating figures, “Shall we go find, Cheyanne and Corso?” He nods “First, can we go by the memorial of the fallen soldiers.” I close my eyes tightly before nodding, “Sure.”

            The Memorial is on the right side of the Tower if you are exiting the Senate tower, and once we reach it I follow Jorgan though the Memorials, seeing them so many times at they just now cause tears to fall, so I pull out my datapad to ask A7 to come pick us up. I somewhat zone out as I follow, only coming back to reality when Jorgan stops and I run into him again, which he doesn’t seem to notice to busy staring at a statue of a highly decorated Cathar General. As I look at it closer, I can read ‘This statue is dedicated to one of the greatest Generals of the Great Galactic War: General Theodore Tae,’ a single tear falls down my face and Jorgan says “Um, I think we should get going.” I nod and we begin our search for Cheyanne and Corso, finding them, ironically, by the statue of her grandparents. Corso has his arms tightly and protectively wrapped around Cheyanne. “Oh Chey, why did you walk here?” she pulls away slightly to look up, and I can see the tears so I motion to come here, and she does and I tightly hug her as I say, “Our ride will be here soon.” Just as I finish, A7 approaches in a speeder, “Good evening.” Chey smiles adoringly at her family droid as he gets out and helps us both in the speeder. Once we’re both seated, we turn to look at our companions, still unmoving, so Chey says, “Are you coming with or do you have another place to stay?” which spurs them into both getting into the speeder.

            We're all rather silent on the way to the ‘Sky Palace,’ until Chey chuckles then turns and gently nudges me, making me look at her, “What’s wrong?” Sighing, I look back down before saying, “We passed my grandfather’s memorial on the way to find you.” I can practically feel her sympathy, “I’m sorry, Jess. I didn’t know we even passed it.” I chuckle sadly, “That’s because you didn’t. Jorgan wanted to see the memorial of the fallen soldiers, and, well of course, General Theodore Tae was among them.” She tries to hug me, “Did he know?” I shake my head then look back at Jorgan, “I think he still doesn’t…” I see her nod understandingly. When we land on the entrance to the floating family estate, A7 helps us out of the speeder and escorts us inside where he turns to the men. “Welcome to the Sky Palace! If you both would follow me please, I will give you a tour and show you where you’ll be staying while you are here.” They look over at us and Chey makes a shooing motion.

            “So why has Corso been irritated every time you leave that cantina?” I ask once the men are out of sight. I stare at her as she slightly smiles, “Because he has competition.” _Oh, Cheyanne_ , “I thought you liked him!” She rolls her eyes “No, I said that there’s something about him that’s attractive. Not that I ‘like’ him. Besides he looks like he’s the settling down type, and I don’t plan on settling down for quite some time.” I nod defeatedly, “Guess that makes sense.” She smiles, “Thank you for understanding. Now if you excuse me I have to go get ready for a date,” as she runs up to her bedroom on the second floor… I roll my eyes at her antics. _She’s 17 and still the same._ I decide to look around to see if I can spot any differences since I was last here, until I see both men returning “Hey guys, how was the tour?” They look at each other and Corso speaks first, “I haven’t seen anything like it.” Jorgan chuckles but nods in agreement. I smile “Yeah, I’d say this is one of a kind, which it is, sort of.” They both look at me questioningly I chuckle, “Most of their strongholds are unique but this one as a twin and is made to be reminiscent of their childhood home but isn’t an exact copy.” The men nod then Corso asks, “Where is the Captain?” I raise an eyebrow and he blushes, “I mean… Cheyanne.” I smile, “She’s apparently getting ready for a date.” Corso groans, “She’s really going?!” looking at me pleadingly. I nod which causes him groans and begin pacing.

            He paces until Alena and Talia enter. Alena chuckles seeing the spectacle, “So what’s going on?” Jorgan and Corso jump before grabbing their weapons and aiming them at her, who again chuckles and waves her hand making the weapons fly out of reach of their owners. Which causes me chuckle “Boys, I’d like to introduce Jedi Master Alena Draé, our host and Cheyanne’s and Talia’s mother.” Both men immediately freeze, then Corso groans and Jorgan clears his throat and salutes her. “Good evening, boys. Sorry to startle you,” Alena says smiling before turning to me, “Jessi! I’m so happy to see you! Congratulations on the promotion and becoming the CO of Havoc. Though I’m sorry it came the way it did. I knew Tavus very well. I never thought I’d see the day he thought better of the Empire than the Republic.” Tali gasps, “He defected?” I nod solemnly, “My whole squad did. Jorgan got demoted because of it while I got promoted because I was the last remaining member of Havoc.” Tali closes her eyes then goes to give me a hug whispering, “I’m sorry.”

            “So, where’s Cheyanne? I didn’t see Lady Luck on the landing pad!” Alena states once the hug is over, I grimace, not wanting to be the one to tell her. Thankfully Tali is the one, “Um, Mom… Lady Luck got stolen a couple days ago.” Alena sighs, “I warned her. But that doesn’t answer my question.” Corso clears his throat “Sorry, ma’am but Captain… um Cheyanne is preparing to head out into town.” Alena rolls her eyes, “Should have known. You are?” Corso closes his eyes and groans “Um, Corso Riggs, ma’am. I’m helping your daughter find her ship.” She nods, “Well, I’m glad she has a young man, such as yourself, helping her. Force knows she needs it.” Talia slightly chuckles, “Is she going out to spend time with that man from the cantina?” Corso looks at her surprised, “Yeah, she is… How do you know that?” She smiles, “I have my ways,” before heading up the stairs. Alena claps her hands together, “Well, gentlemen make yourselves at home. I assume that A7 has already shown you around?” They both nod, and she smiles brightly, “Excellent. I’ll see you all at supper,” she looks up the stairs and mutters, “hopefully,” before walking away.

            Once she’s gone both men relax. “She’s not that scary,” I say shaking my head before getting an idea, “Hey, why don’t I show you one of my favorite rooms.” They look at each before nodding, I roll my eyes then lead them to the training room and both men’s eyes light up. After we’ve all changed into our workout clothes and have started training, Talia comes in and asks, “So who is Reki?” I stop mid hit, “I have no clue.” And I don’t, _um I guess I need to question her a bit more._ Then I hear Tali ask Corso, “You know him?” Now stopping my workout, I hear him say, “Yeah, Reki is an old childhood friend of mine from Ord Mantell.” I see Tali close her eyes, “And how does he know my sister?” Corso grimaces, “That’s where her ship got stolen. She went to Reki for help.” She nods, “Thanks.” He looks down before looking back up at her, “Why?” she shrugs, but I know she knows more, “He just holoed her.” He groans and I know both of us hear him mumble “Great, I have him to compete with now too.” Tali and I make brief eye contact before she leaves, and I can bet we’re thinking the same thing, _Corso has fallen for Cheyanne._

            My suspicions are further confirmed, when Cheyanne enters dressed in what she’s wearing for her date. She says, “Hey guys,” when she enters. And I can hear Corso swallow, as I look up and smile, “You look incredible, Chey!” She smiles at me brightly “Thanks, Jess. I thought this was safe.” I chuckle, “On you, nothing is safe.” She lightly hits me on the arm with a smile before turning and walking out. As she does, I hear Corso groan and punch his training dummy hard, mumbling under his breathe with every punch. Jorgan and I share a look, before I choose to say, “She’ll come around Corso. Just give her time and be there when she needs you.” Corso looks up at me and I give him an encouraging smile which he returns with a nod before walking out.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ==========================  
> Hope ya'll enjoy it and sorry for any mistakes.  
> Positive feedback is greatly appreciated!


	7. Getting Somewhere

=-=-=-=-=-=

            I wake up before my alarm, fresh and ready for the day. Stretching I get up to put on some loose pants and shirt before going down stairs to the kitchen, running into both Jorgan and Corso on their way there. “Good morning! Did you sleep well?” I ask taking in that both men are wearing workout clothes. Corso smiles, “Yes. It's very peaceful here, with no war going on outside.” I chuckle “Yeah, I bet,” I pause smelling the air, “Smells like breakfast is cooking. Come on,” motioning for the men to follow. Sure, enough Aunt Alena is cooking when we enter the kitchen and Talia is already there but no sign of Cheyanne. I grimace looking over at Corso slightly before he says, “Something sure smells good.” Alena smiles, “I’d sure hope so, Corso. Wouldn’t want to be ruining my best meal.” I snort, yeah right, “Everything you make is delicious.” Alena looks at me appreciatively, “Thank you, Jessi,” as she puts plates in front of the four of us plus another with a cup of caff. To my side, I see Tali glance around before looking at her mom pointedly. She sighs and opens the fridge to get butter, setting it in front of her then searches the cabinets for the sugar. Tali grins at her when she places the sugar in front of her along with a spoon. And both Alena and I roll our eyes as we watch Tali pour sugar on her now buttered hotcakes. “Your father ruined you,” Alena mutters as she returns to cooking, I chuckle.

            Surprisingly Cheyanne joins us a bit later, walking in surprisingly happy for a non-morning person and I'm pretty sure both Tali and I are staring at her as she sits down on Tali's other side. She flashes everyone a smile, “Good morning!” then grabs the butter and sugar from her sister and doing the same. Tali groans “Please, tell me you didn’t?!” Cheyanne looks up at her innocently, “I have no idea what you are talking about, my dear sister,” canceling her innocent act with a wink. “Oh, you know exactly what I’m talking about. So I’m asking, did you?” Chey smirks “No, I did not. I can be a morning person sometimes.” Talia and I both snort, making the men stare at us confused and the other Draés' both start giggling. “If you must know, I came home at a rather reasonable hour, thank you very much,” Chey says after she recovers. Alena nods, “And he seemed very nice.” My mouth falls open a bit at that, and Tali is just as stunned, “You met him?” Alena chuckles, “I did. I must say Cheyanne’s taste has greatly improved.” Chey blushes before saying “Yes, Ord Mantell did quite a number on me.” Tali sighs, “So where is everyone heading?”

            “Jorgan and I have to go into the Black Suns territory…” I state. Chey smiles, “Same here.” Then we look at the questioner as she says, “Same.” Cheyanne smiles and we fall silent until we're all finished eating, the guys eating like six plates stacked high with hotcakes. After the males are finished, Jorgan and I head upstairs to put on our armor. “That was interesting,” Jorgan mutters as we go up. I look over at him questioningly but he just shrugs, I sigh as we separate into our rooms. After we return down stairs, A7 drives us all to the Black Sun Territory. There’s a man who’s apparently waiting for Talia. A male Human with cybernetics around his left eye, styled dark brown hair with hazel brown eyes and I can't shake the feeling that he's familiar. T7 beeps happily when he sees him and the man cautiously walks to us, as Talia says, “Hey Theron, this is my sister Cheyanne, her business partner Corso Riggs. And…” the man, Theron finishes for her, “Lieutenant Jessica Tae and Sergeant Aric Jorgan of Havoc Squad. The two of you have been quite talked about lately.” My eyes widen a bit wondering just how much this guy knows and how he knows. “It’s a pleasure meeting you, Theron,” Cheyanne states before asking, “You’re helping Tali with her problem?” He chuckles, looking at Tali, “Trying too.” I raise an eyebrow wondering what's going on, especially when I notice Tali blushes. Theron then says “Well, come on Tali,” she glares at him which causes him to chuckle. Cheyanne and I share a look, _this isn't normal._

 _We fight rather well with the seven of us. My curiosity gets the best of me, when I notice that Theron uses two blasters same as Chey, but he looks much more professional and clearly thinks before doing._ Jorgan and I are the first to separate, so we can speak with Sergeant Jaxo. “Hey there, you must be the new Havoc CO. I'm Ava Jaxo. It's good to meet you,” the Sergeant, a young woman, states as we enter her base of operations. “Likewise, Jaxo,” I state with a small smile. She returns the smile before going straight to business, “Your highly enviable task is to destroy a cache of nerve gas canisters that Black Sun syndicate is shipping to Tavus. The gas is called Trivoris. Scary stuff—one canister can cover a square kilometer, with one hundred percent fatality inside of ten minutes.” I grimace, “Do we have any way to safely deal with this stuff?” She smiles somewhat sadly, “Lucky for us, it's pretty easy to neutralize Trivoris—at least while it's in the canisters,” she holds up something, “The compound in this bottle renders Trivoris completely inert on contact. Just plug it into the canisters inside the Black Sun base, and the whole batch is history.” I nod, “Sounds easy enough.” She rolls her eyes, “Yeah, but you'll have to shoot your way past Black Sun's toughest enforcers to do it. You also have another objective. A few hours ago, a bright red case was moved into the Black Sun's base under heavy guard. If whatever's inside that case is valuable to Black Sun it's bad news for us. So, your job will be to find the case and bring me it's contents.” I nod, “Consider it done.” Jaxo smiles, “One last detail: Black Sun has signal jammers throughout their base, so General Garza won't know to send help if you get in over your head.”

            “I'll be sure to stay alert,” I state. “I'm sure you can handle yourself, but I wanted to be sure you got all the facts,” Jaxo states, “Once you've taken care of the Trivoris canisters and nabbed whatever's inside that red case, be sure to meet me back here to confirm the mission results. Good luck, Lieutenant.” I nod before exiting rejoining with the sisters, Corso, Theron and T7. After dozens of more fights, we finally reach the Republic Barricade, where everyone follows Talia inside. After a two brief fire fights, we finally find the soldiers and they escort us to their CO. The four of us hang back as Talia, Theron and T7 go up to the sergeant. Their talk clearly isn't going well, since Tali is taping her leg, something she does when she's irritated then I feel a calmness that Talia has to be the heart of. We hear nothing until, Talia passionately says, “If you surrender now, your soldiers will have died in vain. Is that what you want? What about the man inside that base waiting to be rescued? You’d abandon him? This is a moment of truth, Sergeant. Do you give up and let evil win, or stand up and fight?” _I shake my head;_ _those soldiers don't know who they're dealing with._

            Apparently, that convinces them, as they discuss a bit more than the three head back to us as the sergeant says, “Let’s double-time it, men! Move, move!” Once we’re out of the barricade, I hear Cheyanne exclaim “Tali?” I look back and see Talia leaning against the wall a few steps from the entrance to the barricade. I can tell something is wrong, as Cheyanne, Theron and T7 all look concerned and keep glancing at her as we continue on, removing the remaining gangsters as Theron shuts down terminals. Once we reach Black Suns headquarters, Talia looks horrible but she helps as much as she can nevertheless. Thankfully as we clear out the headquarters, I find the canisters containing the Trivous, neutralizing them, and finding the red case Jaxo mentioned which contains a single blaster. As we enter where Tali, Theron and T7 need to go, Theron motions for us to follow after casting a nervous look at Talia. Cheyanne and I share a look before motioning for the men to watch our backs then following them inside. As we do, we hear a man yell, “Tarnis! We risked everything for you. Stealing those data files, faking your kidnapping… this is how you repay us?” My eyes widen and I look questioningly at Theron, who's growling and Tali, who's staring blankly at the opposite wall. “You were compensated with enough weapons and armor to make Black Sun invincible,” a cold voice says, an involuntary shiver runs down my spine. The first man scoffs, “Invincible? There’s a Jedi carving up my base!” Chey and I chuckle at that, stopping just in time to hear what he says next, “This is your fault. We never should’ve trusted a Sith!” My eyes widen, as I look worriedly at Tali as she loses all her remaining color. The cold voice says, “If a Jedi has come for you, Salarr, it wasn’t my doing.”

            “I thought your kidnapping was a little to convenient,” Theron says as they approach, Cheyanne and I farther back. The hologram Sith smirks, “I would have preferred a more graceful exit, but…” he pauses looking at Talia, “your Masters forced my hand. I have no time for this nonsense. Finish your pointless battle. Coruscant’s fate is already sealed,” then he disappears. As he was talking, Chey and I manage to flank behind Salaar. After the call drops, there's man holding a blaster to Tali’s head. Then just as I'm about to warn her, a blaster shot pierces his body and he crumbles to the floor dead and three soldiers from the barricade appear as the sergeant says “Surrender, you scum! We’ve got you surrounded.” I raise my blaster, pointing directly at Salaar's head. “Nice of you to join the party,” Tali states happily unaware of how close she was to death. “Wouldn’t miss it,” the Sergeant says before Salaar exclaims, “Kill them all!” He yells so loudly that Corso and Jorgan join our little army.

            “Can’t believe it! We just took down Salaar. Black Sun won’t forget that anytime soon,” The Sergeant states after the brief, basically one sided, fire fight, “We lost some good soldiers, but this victory gives their deaths meaning.” We go stand by Tali as she says, “Your men fought bravely. You should be proud.” He nods, “Thanks for leading this mission. Black Sun will have reinforcements coming soon. Any sign of the man you came to rescue?” Just then the holo behind us beeps and we all turn to see Jedi by the looks of her appear, “There you are… we intercepted Salaar’s holocall to Tarnis. Can’t believe he’s a Sith!” Alena appears next to her, “But that’s not the worst news. The Planet Prison prototype here at the lab? A fake.” Tali groans and I grimace as she continues, “Tarnis stole the real one.” I hear Theron growl, “Have you traced that holocall?” The Jedi rolls her eyes, “Already working on it.” Alena sighs, “We need you both back at the Senate Tower. Alena and Kira out,” then they both disappear. “Sounds like your work is just starting,” the trooper says behind us, “We won’t hold you up. Goodbye, Jedi,” as he salutes her. “Talia, please. Draé, if you must. It was an honor to work with you, Sergeant,” she pauses looking at the two others, “and your men,” before we all exit.

            “You go on ahead, Tali,” Cheyanne says once we’re outside the headquarters. I nod in agreement, getting worried about her, “There’s still things we need to do but your mission is too important to wait.” Tali sighs but nods looking at Theron, who says, “Shall we?” She rolls her eyes but they leave together and as they walk away Chey smirks, “I’d hate to say it but it looks as if someone has a crush.”  I look over at her, “Which one?” She just nods, “Exactly.” I roll my eyes, “Come on, we have work to do,” as we walk back toward the barricade where Chey and Corso separate from us, as we continue to Jaxo. “Hey, you're back! Was the op a success? Were you able to neutralize the Trivoris?” Jaxo asks, speaking quickly. I silently chuckle, “Mission complete.” She tilts her head, “How about that red case? Were you able to grab whatever was inside?” I nod, “Black Sun has kindly supplied this blaster to aid the Republic war effort,” I say with a slight smirk as I take out the blaster and hand it to her. Her eyes widen as she takes it, “I've never seen one quite like it. Must be some sort of new prototype. I'll take it back to Headquarters for analysis—maybe we can find out where Black Sun is getting their weapons. Guess we're through here, then. It's been fun, Lieutenant. I hope we get to run together again sometime.” I smile, “Same here.” Just as we walk outside the room, my holo chimes. Sighing I answer it, “Come in, Lieutenant. This is General Garza. A situation has developed with the Senate, and I need your help.” I groan, _this isn't going to be fun..._ “What can I do to help, sir?”

            “Despite my best efforts, four members of the Senate Defense Committee have learned about Havoc Squad's defection, and they want to know the specifics. It's an 'informal inquiry' for the time being. But you can bet it won't end there. I hate politics.” I groan, “I'm not sure sending me is in your best interests, General.” She tilts her head, “I don't have a choice, Lieutenant. The Senators have asked for you personally. You'll go to their office at the Senate tower immediately to testify in the inquiry. I'm barred from influencing your testimony, but I will remind you that the more information that becomes public, the harder our job becomes. The Senators are already waiting. Hurry back to the Senate tower and try to get this over with quickly. Garza out.” I groan once the call ends and Jorgan says, “As if we didn't have enough problems already....” I nod in agreement as we walk back to where we were dropped off. _You have no idea, Jorgan._ We get a taxi speeder to drive us to the Senate Tower where the fun begins. I nervously swallow as we enter and make our way to the office just as my holo chimes again. I stop answering it, “Not a good time, Chey.” She raises a eyebrow, “What’s wrong?” I frown, not looking forward to this, “Have to smooth out some feathers. We’ll be a while.” She nods “Okay, take care.” I nod and the call ends.

            “Lieutenant Jessica Tae, make yourself comfortable. On behalf of the Senate of the Galactic Republic, I want to thank you for appearing on such short notice for this informal inquiry,” the head of the committee, the senator from Garza's holo terminal yesterday, states as Jorgan and I enter the room. “I am Senator Arnus,” the Human male continues, “leader of this committee.” He pauses motioning to a female Mirialan, “Senator Voralla from Mirial,” then motions to one of the male Cathars in the room, “Senator Zorin Krasul from Anaxes.” The fourth member stands up, the second Cathar, and Arnus continues “And I'm sure you know our fourth member, Senator Ethan Tae from Chandrila.” I look over at my brother with a nod as Jorgan and I take a seat and Arnus continues, “And this is the second senator from Chandrila, Senator Elizabeth Price. She's here for special reasons.” The second familiar face looks over at me with a small smile, and I know what Garza wanted flies right out the window. Arnus continues “I assure you we will not hold you from your duties any longer than necessary, Lieutenant.”

            “The purpose of this inquiry,” Voralla begins, “is to investigate the defection of several members of Republic Army Special Forces squad number 326, code named 'Havoc Squad,' to the Sith Empire.” I swallow trying to calm my nerves as my brother asks, “Now, you recently served in Havoc Squad on Ord Mantell, Lieutenant. Is that correct?” I glance at Elizabeth knowing they're using this as a base line to see if I'm lying, “That's right.” Ethan continues, “While serving on Ord Mantell, all the members of Havoc Squad, excluding yourself, defected to the Sith Empire. Is that correct?” I close my eyes “Yes, my squad defected right in front of me. Told the Imperials to kill me.” I open my eyes to see that he's staring that the floor and Elizabeth swallows. “Now, did Commander Tavus or any of the other members of Havoc show signs of, say.... instability? Anger? Frustration?” Arnus asks this time. I look up at him, “Yes, they were all pretty angry at the Republic.” My mind replaying what Tavus said before telling the Imps to kill me. “Lieutenant, let us speak hypothetically: Do you believe that anyone serving on Ord Mantell should have seen this coming?” Arnus continues. I shake my head, “I don't think anyone could, sir.”

            “Commander Tavus and the others must have been quite subtle indeed,” Arnus states, “I have one final question, Lieutenant. What connection, if any, exists, between the events that occurred on Ando Prime and Havoc Squad's decision to defect to...” Voralla interrupts him, “Senator Arnus, I would remind you that the circumstances of Ando Prime are classified and occurred before the Lieutenant's involvement in Havoc,” she turns to me, “You may ignore that question, Lieutenant.” I look down to the surface of the table as I say, “Ando Prime was their main reason. They said that the Republic doesn't value her warriors anymore,” I look up now looking directly at my brother, “They felt that the Republic abandoned them.” I watch as his jaw tightens and I feel slightly satisfied, as that's basically what my family did to me. The Senators look at each other before Krasul says, “Your part in this inquiry is concluded. You may return to your duties now.” I nod and raise from my seat, Jorgan following me closely. Once we're outside the room, I lean against the nearest wall to rein in my emotions. Jorgan walks to my side, “I thought we weren't supposed to say too much.” I chuckle rather darkly, “I told her sending me wasn't a good idea.”

            “It's not like that would have helped anything with,” I stop just as the door to the office reopens and my brother and Elizabeth exit. “Oh, Jess,” Elizabeth exclaims before giving me a crushing hug which I gratefully return, Jorgan now looks thoroughly confused. “Hey Liz,” I say after the hug ends and I can breathe again. Ethan clears his throat “Hey, little sister.” I narrow my eyes at him, “Really?! You've decided I'm your sister again!?” He grimaces and Jorgan's eyes widen, “You were never not my sister, Jess. I'm sorry if you ever thought so.” I growl “Lies, Ethan. You haven't spoken to me since I entered the Academy here on Coruscant. In fact, not a single member of our 'beloved' family as even contacted me. So, don't.” He looks down clearly ashamed as my rant continues, “You know who was there for me, the Draés. The family who lost their own daughter and parents in a single day. They were there for me even when I told them not to be. So, don't you dare tell me that I've 'always' been your sister.” And with that I furiously turn and march down the hall away from him. As I'm further down the hallway I hear a slap.

            By the time, I reach Garza's office I'm still fuming, and Garza can tell as she bites her lip and looks at Jorgan who's ironically panting, apparently, I walked faster than I meant to… _opps_. “It's good you've arrived, Tae. We have much to discuss. First, let me congratulate you for your work on the Black Sun operation. You did well disabling that nerve gas. Also, that prototype blaster you confiscated will teach us a great deal about the Black Sun's sources.” I nod stiffly, “Glad to be of service, sir.” She tilts her head, and I know she wants to say something about my testimony to the Senators but thinks better of it which I'm grateful for, as I'm likely to yell at her. I breathe in deeply, trying to calm down before speaking, “I'm sorry about my testimony, General. I know it doesn't make your job any easier.” She gives me a sad smile, “You did warn me though.” I nod, grateful, as she continues, “On to more pressing issues. My agents have discovered a vital new link to Havoc Squad here on Coruscant. Jek Kardan, one of the founders of Havoc Squad and Commander Tavus' former mentor, has been spotted on the city's lower levels. He's serving as an officer in a local vigilante group.”

            “Is Kardan tied in with the deflection, General?” I ask, somewhat concerned. “Kardan resigned his commission and disappeared after the debacle on Andro Prime. If he's turned up now, it can't be a coincidence.” I swallow and nod, “Tavus told me that Ando Prime was the reason for Havoc's deflection. What happened on the planet?” Garza looks down and starts pacing, “We sent Havoc to Ando Prime to cut off an Imperial offensive, but the enemy numbers were much higher than intel had led us to believe. When we tried to dispatch a extraction team, the Senate shut down the entire operation. We were 'causing an incident' and 'breaching the peace.' Bureaucrats. Havoc was left with no support and no way home. But in spite of insurmountable odds, Kardan led Havoc out of there alive.” I close my eyes, “Havoc was really betrayed by the Senate.” Garza grimly nods, “They were put in a terrible situation, Tae, but that doesn't excuse their actions.” I nod, “I know. I just wanted it to be untrue.” She gives me a sympathetic look, “Karden resigned as soon as he learned the truth, and Tavus took over the squad. They were never quite the same. What is important now is that we've discovered Jek Kardan's location. I want you to bring him in at all costs.” I nod once, “I'll take care of it.”

            “The vigilante group Kardan is working with is called the Justicars' Brigade. They control a large area of Coruscant's lower levels and are openly hostile to all outsiders,” Garza continues. I groan, already aware of how they do business. “Our surveillance shows that Kardan spends most of his time in the Justicars' main base. You will attempt to capture him there. Kardan is a crucial link to Tavus and the rest of the Havoc traitors, Tae. Bring him in, no matter what it takes.” I nod, “I'll have Kardan back here on the double, sir.” She smiles slightly, “I'm counting on you, Lieutenant. Dismissed.” I look at Jorgan as we exit the room, “I'm sorry about earlier, Jorgan.” He shrugs and I roll my eyes, then we walk to where you can rent speeders, get one we go straight into the Justicars' territory. Since I'm letting Jorgan drive, I holo Cheyanne.

            “So where are you heading?” I ask once she answers. She glances at Talia who is sitting next to her, “Tali and I are both going to the Justicar sector.” Tali’s eyes widen, “You’re going there why?!” Chey sighs, “It’s for my ship, Tali, okay? I wouldn’t go anywhere near that place if I didn’t have too.” I grimace, remembering the last time she was down there, “I have to go there too. We’ll see you there,” as I end the call. There's a new face when we rejoin with Talia and Cheyanne, the Jedi from the holo. She looks somewhat surprised, so I say “Introductions are probably needed… I’m Lieutenant Jessi Tae and this is Sergeant Aric Jorgan.” The woman nods, “Sorry about that. I forget my manners sometimes. I’m Kira Carsen, Talia’s Padawan.” I nod “Well, nice to meet you. It’ll be nice working with two Jedi,” finishing with a soft smile and a light punch to Tali’s arm, “Now let’s get out of this place.” The sisters nod in agreement, and we begin the fight through the Justicars.

            Cheyanne is the first to separate from the group, apparently needing to talk to someone so we sit a wait for her and Corso to return. When she does she's mumbling about something that makes Talia chuckle. “Are you finished yet?” she asks and Chey shakes her head, “Have to go to the Detention Center.” Tali frowns until Kira says, “That’s where we’re headed.” Tali turns to her before looking back at her sister, “Then we might as well go together.” Chey nods then leads the charge and the fighting begins again. After a long run and dozens of fights we finally reach the detention center where the Jedi, Cheyanne and Corso enter as Jorgan and I continue on to the main base. We walk into a conversation between Kardan and surprise, surprise, an Imperial Officer. “You listen to me, Karden. Helping you has already put my operation at risk. You will do exactly as I say, when I say, or...” Kardan interrupts him, “Or you'll what, Captain? I'm not one of your lock-stepping drones—this part of the op is mine. End of discussion.”

            “How dare you...” the captain begins. “Problems in the ranks, gentlemen?” I ask walking in holding my blaster to the Imp's head. One of the captain's men exclaims, “Intruders!” I roll my eyes, _no really?!_ “Put those blasters on the floor, soldiers. Nice and slow,” Kardan says pointing his gun at us along with the two other Imperials minus the captain. “Not going to happen,” I state matter-of-factly, aiming my gun a bit higher on the captain's body. “It's over, Kardan. You, the Imps, Tavus—you're all going down,” Jorgan says his own blaster pointed at Kardan. “Like the other soldier said, not going to happen. Now drop that weapon before...” he pauses finally noticing the insignia on our armor, “A Havoc badge? Is this a joke? No, no—you must be the new recruit Tavus told me about. So, you survived after all. Can't say I'm surprised, honestly. Havoc always did recruit the best.”

            “I'm not interested in compliments from a traitor,” I state, fighting the urge to switch targets. “It's not treason when the Republic betrays you first, it's self-preservation,” Kardan says, “I'm impressed—I didn't think the old lady would send someone after me so quickly. After all these years, Garza still hasn't lost her edge.” The captain crosses his arms, “What are you waiting for, Kardan? Kill the whelp! Or do you lack the true resolve to fight for the Empire?” Kardan's eyes narrow, “My loyalty is to Tavus. Not to your empire, and not to anyone else. You want the trooper dead, you take care of it,” he puts his gun away, “I don't kill good soldiers. I'm heading down to the Works to make sure everything is prepped.” I look over at Kardan, “You won't escape me for long, Kardan.” He chuckles shaking his head, “Do yourself a favor and die now, soldier—before you get in any deeper over your head,” then he walks away and the two Imperial troopers step up as the captain exclaims “Open fire, men!” I roll my eyes and finally pull the trigger killing the captain instantly as Jorgan takes care of the other two. As soon as the last body falls my holo beeps, “Come in, Tae. Is it my imagination, or were those Imperial soldiers you just fought?”

            “No mistake, sir. These were Imperial commandos,” I state grimly. “Imperial soldiers, in uniform, operating on the lower levels of Coruscant—and Republic security knows nothing about it. Incredible. We need to learn more about this link between the Justicars and the Empire. If they're hosting our enemies, they might have some useful information for us.” I tilt my head, “Shouldn't I be chasing Kardan, sir?” She slightly chuckles, “We need to know where Kardan has gone before you can pursue him. All the more reason to search the Justicar base for information. Surveillance shows that the Justicars have their primary computer terminal in that base. Find the necessary card and activate that computer terminal. My technicians can then slice in and uncover everything the Justicars and Imperials have been up to.” I nod, “I'll take care of this immediately.” She smiles and nods, “Good. Garza out.” and with that Jorgan and I make our way back to near where we separated from the others heading to the computer lab.

            There's a couple dozen Justicars inside, but they don't stand much of a chance to us. After the last body hits the ground, Jorgan and I begin searching their bodies for an access card to their main frame. Jorgan is the one who finds it then we begin searching for their main computer, finding it in the largest room inside the lab. We then use the access card and set the holo on the terminal. “Good work, Tae. My technicians are accessing the Justicars' files now. Patrol schedules, supply manifests, prisoner records—Ah! Karden, you... I think we've found what we were look for, Lieutenant Tae. You have a new target.” I nod, “Just tell me who and where.” Garza smirks, “Kardan had the Justicars work with the Imperials to hijack and rebuild an abandoned Republic communications relay, down in an industrial area called the Works. Apparently, Tavus and his followers are using this relay to route all of their interplanetary communications. If we destroy it, the traitors will be completely cut off from one another.” I tilt my head, “Why would the traitors depend on equipment like this?”

            “They obviously can't relay on Republic channels,” Garza states, “and Imperial frequencies would be useless because we could trace their source. Tavus and his followers need this relay to keep us from overhearing their comm traffic. It's critical to their operations, which makes destroying it critical to ours. I'm sending Sergeant Mathin to bring you the explosives you'll need to destroy the relay. He'll rendezvous with you shortly.” I nod, “I'll meet up with Sergeant Mathin ASAP.” She nods smiling slightly, “One last thing, Karden didn't seem to mesh with the Imperials. I don't think he's as convinced of their supremacy as his proteges are. You're sure to find him guarding that comm relay. Kill him if you have to, Tae, but try to persuade him to surrender peacefully first.” I look at Jorgan, “I'll give it my best shot, General.” Jorgan crosses his arms as Garza says, “Please do, Lieutenant. Kardan's only concern is the safety of the former Havoc members. He may not be loyal to us, but he isn't loyal to the Empire, either. Convince him that it's in the best interest of Tavus' and the others for him to surrender. That's the best way to sway him.” I nod, “Understood, sir.” She smiles sadly, “I know Jek Kardan, Tae. Convince him that surrendering is the only way that everyone comes out of this alive, and we'll have him. Now hurry and rendezvous with Sergeant Mathin. You'll need those explosives regardless of what happens with Kardan. Good luck. Garza out.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ==========================  
> Hope ya'll enjoy it and sorry for any mistakes.  
> Positive feedback is greatly appreciated!


	8. Closer

=-=-=-=-=-=

            After General Garza disappears, Jorgan and I quickly exit the computer lab as my datapad beeps informing me that the coordinates to meet Sergeant Mathin have been sent. I glance at them and quickly input them on my holomap, right by our earlier stop. Jorgan is silent as we head toward the Detention Center. I thought it’s normal for him to be silent, but its typically not angry silence. I’m so wrapped up trying to figure out my squad mate’s mind, besides his mood, that I nearly miss seeing the rest of our group. I begin smiling until noticing their serious expressions, I glance at which of them for any possible injuries, before running towards them, “What's wrong?” Talia’s Padawan, Kira, is the one who answers, “Tell you on the way.” She says it so seriously that I frown, wondering what I’ve missed, “Neither of you are finished, are you?” Cheyanne shakes her head silently, causing me look at Talia, vaguely alarmed as we all begin walking. She shrugs barely containing a grimace, “We have to go to the Works.” I swallow nervously, wondering why she’s acting like this, “So do we.” Tali just nods before breaking into a run, we follow suit. I’m getting more worried by the nanosecond because of the two silent sisters, “What's wrong?” Kira answers again, “Coruscant's in trouble.”

            “How bad,” I ask fearfully. “Worse than the sacking,” Cheyanne finally says, breaking her unusually silence. I gasp, my eyes wandering to Talia, “There are Imperial Soldiers here, do you think they are here because of that?” Tali shrugs as we run, “I don't think so. It seems like Tarnis was working alone but I could be wrong.” I chuckle, rather darkly, “Or more likely you could not be and it's just a coincidence.” Just before we reach the elevator to go down into the Works, we stop the group as we’ve reached the coords. Corso seems grateful for the rest, as we head into another room where Sergeant Mathin is waiting. “Hey there, Lt. Tae,” Mathin states with a sharp salute then we stop in front of him, “Sergeant Mathin, reporting for duty with fun toys in tow, sir,” at my frown, he clears his throat, “ma’am.” I smile, “Let’s see what you’ve got for me.” That eases him slightly, “First item of business is your detonator, ma’am: Czerka Arms 53-R high yield thermite explosive. Guaranteed to get the party started,” he hesitates, looking at Jorgan who’s frowning, “or ended.” I nod, taking it from him, “That will be perfect.”

            “Now, the com relay you’re going after is in the Works, an industrial area on the lower levels. It’s a dangerous place, LT. Besides the Imperials you’re bound to find, the rogue service droids down there will squash anyone they can get their big metal claws around.” My eyes widen, “Who many have we lost?” Mathin looks down, “Too many. Command is an inch away from removing all troops and letting the Imperials have it.” Next to me Jorgan slightly growls, I glance over at him before clearing my throat, “I’ll see if I can’t ease some of the problem. Thanks for the warning though, Sergeant.” Mathin nods, “Just doing my job, LT. Once you’ve made your way to the relay, plant that detonator on the generator coupling at the center—and clear out of there before it goes off. That’s all there is to it, LT. I won’t hold you up any longer. Good luck.” With a nod, Jorgan and I walk away rejoining our group, going directly to the elevator and down to the Works. All of us instantly start breathing thru our mouths as the smell reaches our noses. “What brings you down here?” a trooper asks who's leaning against the wall. I walk up so he can see my Havoc badge clearly, “Our assignments. What's going on here, Sergeant?” seeing if there’s any more info. The man swallows, “You might have problems getting thru. We're getting resistance from berserk repair droids and Imperials alike.” I frown as Talia asks, “Droids are giving you trouble?” He flinches, “In a matter of speaking, yes. They've been down here so long without interaction with organics, they believe we're 'invading' and have been doing suicide runs.”

            “My apologies... Are they blocking the way to the...” Talia begins before pausing to swallow, “to the Jedi Ruins?” The trooper looks at me instantly, “Why would you need to go there?” Tali swallows again, glancing at her pale sister, “There's a Sith there, with a weapon that can endanger everyone on this planet.” The trooper gasps, “My squad and I will do everything to help you get there safely, Master Jedi.” Tali smiles, and I’m thankful we have more allies on this, “Thank you, Sergeant...” He salutes, “Sergeant Avery Carter, ma'am, um, master Jedi.” That makes Tali chuckle, “I'm a Knight, but thank you. Gather your squad, Sergeant, the weapon is already arming,” Carter nods then salutes me again before walking off. I start laughing as soon as I now he’s out of earshot, “And here I thought I was the only one who makes people nervous.” Tali joins in, “Apparently not, Jess. Come on, let's see what we can do about those droids while we wait.”

            The droids are no joke, as soon sees us, they immediately start walking towards us while alerting any nearby droids. The only indication of their intentions, a flashing red light on their chest that starts blinking more rapidly as they approach. The first one is only a few feet back before it explodes, thankfully not hurting our group but I think Talia is more to thank for that. As soon as the smoke clears, there’s four more walking quickly towards us. To my side, I see Cheyanne place a hand on her sister’s back. The explosion is making our ears ring, so she just mouths, 'Let us handle it.' Talia nods understandingly, moving out of the way so the rest of us can open fire. Our hearing comes back just as we hear a whistle behind us. I turn, grinning when I see a squad of about ten troopers standing behind us. Carter walks up, “That was some nice handling. The boys and I are ready to protect our Republic, master Jedi.” I smile turns into a smirk, now they now it can be done without injuries, as the Jedi grins, “Good.”

            With the six of us plus Carters men we make short work of the droids and move quickly thru the tunnels of the Works, to where the com relay is. I signal farewell to the Jedi as the smugglers run into a nearby side room, before turning and entering the comm relay room a bit farther down the long hallway. After walking thru the winding hallway, I see Jek Kardan with his back to us standing in front of four Imperial soldiers. He breathes in deeply as he hears more than sees our approach, our armored boots clanking on the metal floor as we go to stand behind him. “Hmph. Still alive, huh? You really should’ve gotten out of this while you were ahead, soldier,” Kardan says barely looking over at his shoulder “Now, you’re a risk to Tavus and the rest of my people. So, Havoc Squad or not, I’m going to have to kill you.” My fists tighten, remembering the man who served under the founder of Havoc, Jace Malcolm, and my grandfather, “You always have a choice, sir.” He scoffs, “I’ve made by choice: Tavus, Wraith, Needles, Gearbox, Fuse… they’re like my children. And I abandoned them. I resigned and left them to fight alone, just to make a point. They need my help now more than ever. I’m not going to abandon them. Not this time.” I swallow, trying to calm myself down, “You are right, they do need you. They need you to stand down, to be their example, because everyone deserves a second chance, right Kardan?!” His eyes widen slightly, remembering that phrase, “You’re the old lion’s granddaughter, aren’t you?” I nod, “I am. I joined to honor his name against my family’s wishes, those bureaucrats you so hate,” pausing before trying to find something to convince him to return his loyalty.

            “He was very proud of you,” I continue, “like a father would be. Proud that you and Malcolm created Havoc. But what would he think of you now? Joining or even siding with the very government that is responsible for his death above this very planet! I grew up respecting you, not for the badge on your armor but for your strength and determination. Please Kardan, don’t make me have to finish his legacy like this, killing you.” I’m very aware that Jorgan is staring at me, but I can tell that I’m getting through to Kardan. “You’re right. I’m disgracing the old man. You won’t kill the others, will you?” I swallow, “I’ll try not to, Kardan, but they might not give me the choice.” Kardan nods his head grimly, “I understand. Just like the old man, rather be killed than let the Republic be harmed.” One of the Imperial soldiers, the only one who seems to be following all of this, walks to where Kardan was standing as he walks to my side, “I can’t allow you to go into enemy custody alive, Kardan.” I glance a Kardan who frowns, “Why are you still here? The op’s over, people. Finished. Mission failed. So, get out of here while you’ve still got legs to carry you.” I stifle a forming smirk, still Havoc through and through. “You leave me no choice, sir. Ready your weapons, men!” the soldier exclaims to his fellows.

            The following firefight is quick with three Havoc soldiers against four simple soldiers. The first falls to with two synchronized shots from both Kardan and I, then the three of us each take down the remaining soldiers on our own. Jek chuckles when their bodies fall, “Reminds me of old times. Before slapping me on the back, thanks for bringing me back to my senses, kid,” before handing me his weapon, “Here’s my weapon—consider me surrendered. I‘ll make my way up to the Senate tower and turn myself in. See what Garza wants to do next.” I nod, as he walks away, turning towards him when he stops, “He’d be proud of you, you know. I know I am.” I slightly smile, “Thank you, Kardan, means a lot.” He nods, saluting me sharply before walking out. I feel Jorgan’s eyes on me as I walk over to the bodies of the Imperials, looting them for anything worth value and grabbing their dog tags before pulling out the explosive and placing them where Mathin said too, then running out of the room, hearing the tale-tell sign of it exploding. We wait near where the smugglers disappeared to, until Cheyanne runs out of the room, nearly running into me. Automatically concerned, I ask “Is everything all right, Chey?” My heart slightly drops when she shakes her head, “Tali's in trouble.” I refuse to let my fear show, not wanting to further scare her, “The pad to the Ruins isn't much farther.” Chey nods then together we run to the speeder landing pad for this sector, forcing the men to run with us or be left behind. Once we reach the pad, we stop, seeing there's a couple speeders left. I grimace as Chey walks toward one, and I know her memories are getting the better her and increasing her fear as she steps away. I give her sympathetic look as she walks back toward me, away from the speeders to wait for the Jedi to return. It doesn't take long until we see two speeders coming from the ruins. Once they land, Cheyanne immediately runs over to the one that containing her sister. Wrapping her in a hug as soon as she gets out, I can hear her say, “I thought I lost you, sis.” Tali returns the hug as I join her, trying to lighten the ominous feeling looming over the young Knight, “Planet safe?” Talia just nods, and I can see she looks rather pale, causing Chey and I share a worried look, looking back at Tali just as she collapses.

            Cheyanne screams, “Corso!” and the very vigilant gentleman is at her side before she hits the floor, picking her up like he had to for me a couple days earlier. Corso carries her to a nearby bench before gently setting her down. I immediately go to her side, searching for anything that would have caused Chey’s strong sister to fall like that. Chey joins me almost seconds later. We find a couple here and there, mostly scratches, but nothing that would cause any problems. That is until we reach her right side, her hand is covered in a large angry looking red bruise but that's nothing to what is on her side, a massive red spider like bruise. I have to stifle an alarmed scream as she mumbles, “I'm fine guys, really. I just got hit with a little Force lightning.” Behind me, there’s a familiar male that says, “A little what?” I look down at Tali, as the newcomer joins our group hovering over her and see her grimace. I glance at him just as he curses, his vaguely familiar brown eyes staring at her side. Seemingly being able to feel the eyes on him, he glances up at Chey as he removes kolto from his bag. She gives him a small nod. “Why are you here, Theron?” Tali asks softly. He answers as he begins kneeling down, “I was with Master Alena when she felt...” Cheyanne and I share a nervous look that turns into one of confusion when Tali says, “Oh. Does she know everything?” We both look at her immediately as Theron asks, “And that would be?” But the Jedi shakes her head, “You'd know it if she knew.” I can feel his confusion as he looks up at Kira. When Kira shakes her head, Theron proceeds putting on the kolto patches on her side and hand before he rises. “I'll take her and Kira to the Tower,” Theron states holding the Knight protectively in his arms. I can tell Cheyanne is about to protest before two hands are placed on either shoulder, one belonging to Corso, the other to me and as she turns to look at me I shake my head. Chey sighs defeatedly, once she returns her attention to Theron, before nodding. He smiles gratefully, before going to one of the family speeders he must have arrived in. I squeeze Chey’s shoulder as both slump, “She'll be fine, Chey.” She nods just as A7 arrives.

             On the return trip to the Senate Tower plaza, Chey’s silence continues as she looks at a datapad until she shouts, “He found my ship!” Concerned and very startled, I glance at her as Corso frowns, “Who?” Her face brightens as she slightly smiles, hugging the datapad to her chest like a lifeline, “Miel! He found the hanger with my ship!” before quickly turning to the driving droid, “A7 can you drop us off at the Spaceport?” The chrome droid nods, “Of course, young Mistress.” Now understanding the importance of that datapad, I say, “Drop them off first. Ours isn't time sensitive.” The droid nods again before changing course. Once we reach the spaceport, Cheyanne jumps out of the speeder before it stops then runs inside full speed. Corso glances at us before taking off after his captain and I can’t help my laugh. A7 then goes the short distance to the front of the Senate tower, where he’ll wait after he runs some errands. We walk once again to General Garza’s office deep inside the tower, and upon entering I see that her back is to us as well. “Ah, the hero of the hour. I’m proud of you, Tae. You’ve done well,” she begins as she turns to face us. “Just doing my job,” I state simply. She chuckles, “I know that it was more than that. I heard what you told Kardan. But I digress, Jek Karden walked up to the Senate tower’s front door and surrendered himself in broad daylight. I never thought I’d see the day. His help will give us quite an edge against Tavus and the others. I’m glad you could change his mind.”

            “I think his former C.O. had more to do with it that I did, General,” I state matter-of-factly. Garza chuckles, “It was the two of you who showed him his error. No one else would have even thought about that reminding him of the General could change his mind. And I know no one could’ve pulled it off without a connection to both would’ve been able to pull it off,” Garza pauses with a smile, “The Justicars’ computer files included messages relayed between four locations. Our technicians are working to pinpoint these locations now. There can be no doubt that the messages will lead us to the other traitors. Thanks to your efforts, we’ll be able to bring them all to justice very soon.” I nod, “Glad everything is working out so far.” Garza nods grimly, “Possibly a bit too well. One of the traitors has already moved against us: Wraith,” she pauses as she walks toward the terminal behind her, “You remember Senator Krasul from your meeting with the Senate earlier? Wraith kidnapped him from his home just afterward. We’re tracking them now, but we believe they’re heading to a remote space station called Port Raga.” I internally groan, “Has Wraith made any demands? What’s her objective?” Garza shakes her head, “Our intelligence is very thin at the moment. No demands have been made as yet. Once they reach Port Raga, we’ll have one of our teams’ head there immediately. They’ll investigate the situation and give you a detailed report on your arrival. You’ve already accomplished some amazing things, Lieutenant Tae, but there’s no time for a break yet. Whatever Wraith is planning, we cannot allow her to succeed. Understood?” I nod, “Understand, sir. I won’t rest until the job is done.” Garza nods, “I know you won’t, Tae. Havoc Squad requires its own starship for operational flexibility. A ship has already been transferred to your command—it’ll be waiting for you tomorrow at the Spaceport.”

            “Thank you very much,” I state happily. “Put it to good use,” Garza states with a chuckle, “When you’re ready, fly to Port Raga and meet with the advance team immediately. Your orders are to rescue Senator Krasul and capture or eliminate Wraith at all costs. Good luck, Lieutenant Tae. Dismissed.” I give her a sharp salute before walking out as Jorgan says, “Let’s get out there and take down some traitors.” I chuckle shaking my head at him as we walk down the hallway towards the large center room of the tower, where I see three familiar faces; Cheyanne, Corso and Elizabeth. “Oh, hello again Jessi!” Elizabeth exclaims motioning me over to them. I smile, jogging over to give Liz a hug, “You didn't hit him too hard, did you?” To Liz’s side, Cheyanne’s eyes widen, “You hit him?” Liz's face reddens “Yes, but it's not like he didn't deserve it.” Chey snorts causing both Liz and I burst into giggles and Corso to stare at Chey confused as we all walk down the hallway to the Jedi chambers. Liz notices where we're going almost automatically, giving Chey a weird look. “Tali,” she says simply and the Senator mouths 'Oh,' then goes rather silent which is never good and causes Chey to lightly bump into her shoulder, “You know something.” She nods grimly, “I know about the attack,” then she looks up with a serious face, “We're one step closer to war.” I hold back a groan as Chey says, “That bad,” the senator nods. “I'll let Tali and Master Alena say more,” she continues once we stop in front of Master Alena's door. “It was good seeing you, Chey and you, Jess,” she says between hugs before turning the men, “I'm sorry I didn't introduce myself probably but I really must be going.” Corso nods while Jorgan salutes her before she walks away, Corso's eyes following her.

            “I can believe you know a Senator!” he exclaims softly. I can’t help but to roll my eyes as Cheyanne says, “I know many Senators, Corso, along with Generals and Jedi Masters. You two stay out here. If I know my sister, Mom probably is insisting on medical treatment.” I chuckle at that, knowing what is probably going on inside that room and at their confused looks, I clarify, “If she tries to run out you're here to stop her, basically.” They nod and we enter the room just as Tali says, “I'll have you know Thea got hurt much more than I did.” Neither of us can contain our snort. “Lies,” her sister says crossing her arms, “Thea always ran to get someone to help you.” The Jedi groans, “Can we not do this.” Cheyanne smirks, “Oh? And why not?” she pauses as she looks around seeing both Kira and Theron, her smirk widens, “Now I see.” Just as Master Alena seems to be finished with her oldest daughter’s side, “Okay, that's all healed. Now for your hand,” as she gingerly picks it up, using the Force to heal her and within seconds the purplish bruise that was there disappears, “How's that?” The Knight picks it up and tests it, “Feels good.” Alena nods and starts flicking each of her fingers before turning to face her other daughter, “Now is there a reason you're here?” Cheyanne smirks, “Yes. A certain someone has invited me, Talia and Kira on a night in town. And I just wanted to extend that offer to you, Theron.” His eyes widen, “Me?” Chey nods, “Of course. You have helped Tali quite a bit, besides helping her save Coruscant. I think that deserves a celebration, don't you?” I slightly smile, seeing what she’s doing, as Theron nods hesitantly. Chey sighs turning to her sister, “Shouldn't he come, Tali?” The Jedi sighs, picking up on what her sister is doing, “That's up to him, sis.” Chey frowns, narrowing her blue eyes at her, silently telling her 'wrong answer.' Tali grimaces slightly before smiling, “But I'd like it if he came...” Cheyanne smirks and I silently chuckle at the two of them. Theron looks at the Knight before smirking, “Sure, I'll come. Need to keep an eye on Miss Dropsy,” ending with a wink. Cheyanne grins, “Excellent. How about we met here in front of the Senate Tower in,” she glances at the chrono tilting her head, “About four hours! Sound good?”

            “Sounds perfect,” Theron says, still staring at the Jedi. Master Alena chuckles, slightly shaking her head, “Now get out. You are interfering with my mediation time.” Her daughters roll their eyes as they say “Yes, Mom.” That spurs everyone out, leaving the three of Draés and we silently wait until the sisters rejoin us. The silence only breaking when Kira asks, “So where are we going now?” once they’re outside. Theron shakes his head “Well, I've got to go. I'll see all of you tonight, I guess.” Cheyanne gives Talia a sly smile, “We'll walk out with you.” I silently chuckle at the two of them. On the way outside, Jorgan and I are following the two sisters outside, watching amusedly as both Chey and Kira are keeping Theron and Talia next to each other the entire way. Once we're out of the Tower, I start chuckling as I see Kira casually knocks her master into Theron, who catches her and pulls her to his chest. I shake my head minutely as Jorgan and I walk past them heading to the speeder. Jorgan and I sit behind the two Force-sensitives with Corso on Jorgan’s other side, so I barely overhear the two in front. “Do you know who he is?” I hear Kira ask. My eyes flick to Chey as she shakes her head, “Only that he's been helping you and his name. Why?” Then Kira whispers, “He's a SIS Agent.” Suddenly everything makes sense, on how he knew who Jorgan and I were, as Talia sits in between her sister and Padawan.

            Cheyanne lightly bumps into her sister’s shoulder as the speeder takes off, before turning to look at us behind them “Oh, I forgot to add that both of you are coming with us tonight.” Both of us groan, beginning to argue but just as I suspected she cuts us off, “Neither of you have a choice in the matter.” I groan, my fear being realized, and Jorgan crosses his arms, frowning as the smug Cheyanne turns back around smirking with her victory. The rest of the ride home is silent until Kira sees the estate, “Wow! That's impressive!” Cheyanne laughs, “Welcome to Sky Palace, Kira.” Kira looks around continuously as we land, afraid to miss one detail, practically spinning in a circle. “Come on Kira,” Talia finally says before turning to A7, “Can you please ready another room?” The protocol droid nods before walking into the house as Kira walks up, “I can't believe you live here!” I hear her squeal as Chey enters with Jorgan, Corso and I slightly behind. The when the last two enter, the Jedi, Cheyanne grabs both Tali and myself by the hand pulling us upstairs with Kira following excitedly. Once the four of us are up, she lightly pushes us slightly down the hallway as she talks to the men below, “Okay boys, you have three hours to relax and get ready. If you aren't finished by then, I'll make you be...” and on that note, walks towards us.

            “Sit,” Cheyanne demands once we've entered her room, pointing at her bed. Her sister immediately groans, “Chey, I can get ready on my own...” not finishing her sentence as Chey is glaring at her. She swallows “Okay, sis. What do you have in mind?” That makes Kira chuckle, amused that a Jedi Knight is afraid of her younger sister. Cheyanne smirks, “We will pick out our outfits for tonight now, then you each will take a shower or whatever, then we will get ready together.” I groan silently falling into my best friend’s bed, lightly bouncing as I hit the mattress, with my eyes closed, “I'm pretty sure all of us are older than you, Chey...” I can feel Chey’s glare as she scoffs, “I know if I let you get ready by yourselves, you will find some reason not to go. And that is not an opinion...” Both Talia and I sigh, knowing that's exacting why we want that, “Fine.” Cheyanne grins and claps, “Excellent,” then enters her closet. She returns shortly later apparently as something lands on my stomach. I pick up my head slightly to look down at a slightly transparent black knee length dress before staring at Chey, “You are kidding me right!? You do realize that my fur is tan, right?” Chey grins and nods “Yep!” then returns to the closet as I throw my head back into the bed mumbling, “She's trying to kill me...” Tali chuckles, “At least she's not trying to hook you up with someone...”

            I groan, knowing that’s exactly what she’s doing, and the Jedi Knight starts laughing, “She is, isn't she?” I nod causing her to ask, “Who?” I only open my eyes to look at her pointedly and she understands immediately, “Oh. At least he's cute.” I can't help my blush at that statement causing Talia to continue, “So there's a reason she's pushing you two together. You like him.” I sit up quickly so fast that the room spins slightly but I still manage to hit her arm. She grins, “At least your parents won't bug you that he's not a Cathar.” Kira joins in now, finally figuring it out, “Jorgan.” I groan exasperated as Chey exits the closet again and rolls her eyes at me, carrying a silky emerald green off the shoulder dress she holds up for Kira to see. The Padawan tilts her head, “For me.” Chey nods, “Of course.” Kira grins and getting off the bed, to hold the dress to her. It looks stunning on her, both Talia and I nod in approval. Kira then turns and faces the mirror before nodding and giving Chey a hug, “It's perfect...” Chey grins then turns to her sister, “You get to pick out mine.”

            Talia sighs dramatically, grudgingly getting up and walks into the closet. Unsurprisingly she isn’t in there all that long before walking out, holding a blue and silver knee length dress that looks like the night sky. It’s stunning but not her sisters typical taste, as she holds it up and asks, “Do you like this one...” but her sister nods. Then Tali smirks and tosses it on the bed then uses the Force to bring out another one, “Or this one?” Beside me Cheyanne squeals, rising from the bed to take it, “I love it!” It's a red strapless dress, that stops just above the knee and is rather form fitting, perfect for the flirtatious smuggler. Tali chuckles before calling the blue one back to her, “What do you think?” holding the dress up. It looks perfect on her and brings out her blue eyes nicely, her sister claps, “It's definitely more you than me!” Tali chuckles, lightly hitting her on the arm as Chey turns to face Kira and I. “Time to get ready!” she exclaims, “Come back here in an hour!” Just as she finishes, there's a knock on the door which Tali opens, revealing A7, “Good evening young mistress, the room you asked to be prepared is finished.” She nods, “Thank you, A7.” The chrome droid bows, “I will show her to her room if you like, young mistress.” Kira nods, causing her Master to chuckle as she turns back to the droid, “Yes, please. Thank you, A7.” He nods then turns to Kira, “If you would follow me, ma'am, I'll show you to your room.” Kira nods again and enthusiastically follows the droid out into the hallway. I shake my head before leaving too, somewhat following the droid and Kira to the guest rooms.

            Once safely inside my normal guest room, I unsnap my blaster rifle from my back and slug my bag of my shoulder before setting both unto my desk then proceed to remove the rest of my weapons and armor. Once I’m left in just my bodysuit, I remove my dog tags from around my neck before patting myself down, trying to find anything I missed, surprisingly I do, a small silver box in the pocket of my pants. I sit down on the bed trying to figure out where it came from, before remembering that Lin, Bellis’ now widowed wife, had handed me something before I left her with at the Refugee camp, and I make a mental note to check on her before opening the little box, I lightly gasp. Inside is a gold delicate but strong chain with a fragile looking gold angel with small precious gems on her wings and a small data chip. I gingerly remove the chip, still staring at the necklace before getting my holopad to put the chip inside. Immediately a holo appears of Bellis’ and Lin’s wedding appears as Lin’s voice says, “Thank you, Jessi, for saving me and making sure I kept Bellis’ memory alive. As you probably realize I made this after you left and it contains my gratitude along with my contact information as well as my gift. We were going to give that necklace to our daughters whenever we had one, as Bellis made sure we had multiple necklaces. I have one as well as a second, and I thought it prudent that my guardian angel should have one as well. Thank you for everything, Jessi, and good luck,” with that the prerecorded message ends and I blink back tears.

            I glance back at the meaningful necklace, lightly tracing the edges of the tiny angel before getting up and entering the refresher for a relaxing and de-stressing shower. I stretch for good measure as I step out, grabbing a nearby towel to dry off with. Once I’m dry to the touch, wrapping it protectively around me as I walk to the vanity, singing an old love song grandpa would sing to us. Then I begin the long process of brushing my hair and putting in needed hair treatments to keep my hair soft and manageable. With my hair now done, silky smooth and shiny, I exit the refresher tossing my towel on my bed before rummaging through the drawers of my dresser picking out my underwear as well as a soft t-shirt and pajama pants. Once I’m dressed, I slip my slippers on my feet and put on my new necklace, then exit my room nearly running into an excited Kira. Together we make our way back to Cheyanne’s room. When we enter, I instantly notice that the two sisters are wrapped around each other as it seems like Cheyanne is comforting her older sister. “Is everything okay?” I can’t help but ask, concerned.

            “She’s second guessing herself,” Cheyanne says simply, not allowing her sister to speak for herself or argue. Both Kira and I frown before turning to Talia, “And why is that?” Tali sighs, “Everything is fine.” My frown deepens before understanding hits me and it softens, “You had to kill the Sith, didn't you?” Tali nods grimly, “I saw that one coming. It's just that Tarnis was following orders from his father...” stopping mid sentence. Cheyanne and I share a nervous look before asking, “Who's his father?” It's Kira who answers, “Darth Angral.” I, instantly sit on Tali’s other side as the memories of the Sacking and its orchestrator come racing back, and Talia wraps an arm around me in support and I know it’s a lot worse for her, that man killed her grandparents. “Does he...” Cheyanne begins but is unable to finish but her sister can already guess what her question was. “He watched it. I have to go to Ord Mantell. Apparently, he has a base there.” I can’t help my growl hearing about the planet that begin this hunt for the traitors, “Havoc will join you.” Out of the corner of my eye I see, Chey nod “As will Corso and I,” before clapping, “Okay enough depressing topics, we have to get ready.” Both Tali and I groan as we fall in the bed, and I can practically hear Chey's eyes roll.

            Surprisingly it takes the entire two hours for us to get ready as Cheyanne insists we do our hair and makeup. When we finally exit Chey's room, the two men are waiting in the entry room. Both Corso's and Jorgan's eyes widen once they spot us as we begin walking down the stairs, and I can’t help but wonder what Jorgan is thinking seeing his CO dressed like she is. The black dress is just, thankfully, transparent enough to hint at what lies underneath, and Cheyanne insisted that my hair be down so she could curl it and my look is finished with soft makeup. Cheyanne looks stunning in her dress, her hair in an elaborate up do and her make up is surprisingly soft as well until you reach her eyes. Kira looks radiant as well the green of her dress strengthening the red of her hair that is softly curled. And Talia looks gorgeous, the dress making her look wrapped in star light with her curly hair cascading down, revealing the low back. Cheyanne insisted that she and Kira do her makeup and hair, which like the rest of us is soft. Both men look very handsome, Corso is simply dressed in a collared grey button up shirt and black pants while Jorgan is wearing a simple collared button up white shirt and black pants.

            The men continue gaping at least a certain male Human does staring unblinking at Cheyanne, as Jorgan tries to look everywhere but at me. The four of us women share an amused look before Cheyanne coughs, “You two ready to go?” That breaks Corso out of his daze, “Don't we still have an hour left.” I see Chey slightly frown from the corner of my eye “No, we're going to see Darmas.” Corso grimaces and begins mumbling under his breath as A7 walks up, “The speeder is ready, young Mistresses.” I look at the droid, vaguely confused as Chey nods, “Excellent, A7. Do you mind being our escort tonight?” The droid bows his head, “It will be my pleasure to. If you will follow me...” The family droid leads us outside to a completely enclosed luxury speeder I've never seen before. A7 simply states, “It was a gift from a Darmas Pollaran.” Beside me, Cheyanne's face brightens as she exclaims, “It's beautiful.” The chrome droid bows, then opens the door motioning for us to enter.

             I see a slightly older man, who must be Darmas, patiently waiting in front of Dealers Den cantina. His face breaks into a grin when he sees the speeder approach. Once the speeder stops, he’s the one to open the door as A7 is still getting out. Cheyanne is the first to exit running straight into his arms, so I must be correct in assuming it’s Darmas, but I’ll admit he is handsome. Once the rest of us exit, he pulls away from her to greet us. “Hello again, my dears. May I say that both of you look stunning,” he states kissing both Jedi’s hands, “I almost didn't recognize the two of you without your Jedi robes.” Talia chuckles, “Thank you for giving us an opportunity to forgo them, Darmas.” He grins, “My pleasure,” he pauses as he turns to face Jorgan and I, “Now I know I haven't seen you before, beautiful,” as he takes my hand and kisses it, I blush slightly, unused to being treated like this. Darmas stands and returns to Cheyanne's side wrapping an arm around her as she introduces us, “This is my best friend Jessi and her... friend Aric.” Darmas bows his head slightly, “Pleasure.” He continues as he leads us inside, “Now would any of you fancy a game of sabaac?” Corso groans, “I should have seen that one coming.” Darmas chuckles, “There's a very confident spacer here that is in need of a reality check.”

            “I'll watch but I have a feeling the others wouldn't be interested,” Cheyanne states, pulling the man's attention back to her. Darmas grins looking down at her, “That will be prefect.” He pauses looking away from the woman he is clearly infatuated with, “It won't take long in less he's persistent and I'll inform Lara that your drinks will be on me.” Just as he finishes a lavender Twi'lek appears at Corso's side, causing Mantellian gentleman to begin blushing. “Ah, there you are Lara, I was just going to ask for you.” The Twi'lek, Lara, raises her eyebrows, “Oh?” Darmas looks at Corso with a smirk, “Yes. I'd like you to show Mister Riggs how we do things here on Coruscant. And my friends’ drinks will be on me.” Lara grins, her blue eyes flicking to the Human male staring at her, “It'll be my pleasure, Darm.” Then she turns to the rest of us, “If you'll follow me, I'll lead you to a table.” Beside me Talia nods, and I can tell she’s also getting worried about Corso, who seems to have forgotten everything except the skimpy dressed Twi'lek. We follow her to a large cantina booth near the dance floor, before she motions for Corso to follow her. The Jedi and I share a concerned look as he follows wordlessly looking like he's in a haze.

            Thankfully she just leads him to the dance floor and has him wrap his arms around her. Trying to actually have a good time tonight, I tear my eyes away from the pair landing on Jorgan who looks very uncomfortable as he sits next to me. I hear Talia sigh before she pulls Kira and I onto the dance floor. “Come on, let's actually have some fun tonight. I think we've earned it!” she states at my mildly alarmed look. I sigh and nod, knowing she has the same idea as I do as we begin dancing. We spend most of the next hour or so dancing, the three of us even managing to pull Jorgan on to the floor. We only stop when Cheyanne begins walking towards us, “Theron is expecting us any moment now.” Tali nods then looks around for our missing member, Chey notices, “Where's Cowboy?” Kira answers, “Last we saw him he was dancing with Lara.” Then Talia freezes her eyes staring at a nearby table, both Chey and I follow her gaze spotting him immediately, in a smaller booth with the Twi'lek on his lap as they kiss. Chey lightly gasps, covering her mouth with her hand before turning and walking away quickly. Tali and I share a look, _well there goes Corso's chances._ Jorgan and a suddenly appearing Darmas pulls them apart as we make our way over to him, before we pull him away from Lara. I begin laughing as an irritated Talia pours a glass of water on his face. Finally, Corso regains his mind, looking at us vaguely concerned before we pull him outside the cantina where Cheyanne is wrapped around Darmas. I’m sure all of us roll our eyes at the clueless Mantellian, as his fists tighten before holding back laughter as Tali hits the back of his head then motions for him to enter the speeder.

            Corso continues mumbling the entire way to the Senate tower where Theron is waiting. He looks handsome, still wearing the same red leather jacket but with a dressier tight black shirt and form fitting black pants. Theron looks around at everyone as he enters the speeder before his eyes land on the young Knight and widen slightly. She blushes slightly as she gives him a timid smile, “Hey Theron,” to which he responds with a nod. Kira smirks and moves over before patting the seat she just vacated, virtually forcing the two to sit next to each other. The rest of the ride is silent, until we stop in front of Desiréé, a fairly high class cantina and club. Once we land, the men are the first to exit each help one of us ladies out of the speeder. When it’s my turn to exit it’s Jorgan who helps me out, and he immediately let’s go off my hand once I’m standing next to him. Though I feel his bare hand lightly brush mine a couple times as we walk to the entrance of the club. Inside, we follow Darmas and Cheyanne to an empty reserved booth near the dance floor and live band. Once we're all seated, a droid appears placing crystal glasses of white Chandrilan wine in front of each of us. I grin slightly, my finger lightly tracing the curve of the glass, making it sing softly causing Jorgan to sit up straighter as only he and I can hear it as Darmas says, “They give a complementary glass to everyone, my dear. Don't worry,” he pauses looking at the SIS Agent before extending his hand to him, “Darmas Pollaran.” Theron nods as he shakes his hand, “Theron.” Darmas grins before turning to look at Cheyanne and grabbing her hand for their first dance. In the corner of my eye I see Theron staring at his hand curiously. Tali notices too, gently bumping into his shoulder, “Everything okay, Theron?” He nods, hastily moving his hand out of sight. As she sighs, Kira and I share a conspiring look before pulling the Jedi forcibly onto the dance floor.

            We relent when two attractive men ask to dance and Talia eagerly places mine and Kira’s hands into their awaiting ones as she practically rushes to sit back down. The men seem to be mildly confused but nevertheless pull both us to them and begin to dance. I dance with a strawberry blonde human man named Grant while Kira dances with a dark haired Human man named August. Grant seems nice if not a little shy, as he stays quiet the entire three songs as he spins and dips me. After the third song ends, Cheyanne rudely pulls me away from him as her favorite song comes on, not even letting me apologize to him. After the dance the three of us are laughing all the way to our table where Darmas instantly wraps his arms around Cheyanne, thankfully letting her give us a breather. That is until a familiar woman with black hair, wearing a shimmery silver dress walks over to our table, “I thought that was you, Lieutenant.” I quickly raise my head to see who it is before smiling, Sergeant Ava Jaxo, “Hey Jaxo. What brings you here?” Jaxo smiles, “My boyfriend as decided to stop hiding me.” My curiosity gets the best of me as I tilt my head, “Oh?”

            “Who are you walking to, babe,” comes a familiar male’s voice through he instantly freezes when he notices exactly who his girlfriend is speaking to. My eyes widen as they flick back and forth from Jaxo and her boyfriend, my brother, Senator Ethan Tae. “Well, aren't you a little hypocrite,” Cheyanne voices my current thoughts. Jaxo's eyes widen, “How dare you say such a thing!” Ethan swallows as he places a hand on her shoulder, “It's okay, Ava, I deserve it. Hello Chey,” he pauses turning to the other sister, “Talia.” I can see she’s just as angry as her sister, as she tries to take the growl out of her voice, “It's been awhile, Ethan.” My brother swallows nervously, obviously worried about being hit again “Jessi, may I speak to you for a moment.” I frown slightly before looking at the others then nod, “Suppose it wouldn't hurt.” The tan Cathar breathes a sigh of relief before grinning as he helps me out of the booth, then leading Jaxo and I to a different table, his. I cross my arms as both of them sit down, Ethan frowns and Jaxo crunches her eyebrows together, “So?” My slightly older brother sighs, “Sit down, Jess, I’m not going to kill you.” I scoff, grudgingly doing as he says to avoid any unwanted attention, and Jaxo frowns still obviously confused. I pointedly look at my brother then his apparent girlfriend, silently asking if he wants to explain this or should I. The Senator grimaces before clearly his throat “Babe, I’d like to introduce you to my sister, who you’ve already met apparently.” Jaxo’s eyes widen as they flick from her boyfriend to me, looking for family resemblance. “Yes, and why my friend called him a hypocrite is because for the past what nine years neither he nor my parents and sisters have so much as said a single word of acknowledgement that I am part of their family, since I decided to join the military. So, it’s ironic that he’s with someone in the military.”

            Understanding shows in Jaxo’s eyes as she glances at her boyfriend, “That’s why you didn’t want to be seen with me, because of your family.” Ethan closes his eyes tightly, “It was. I was reunited with my sister earlier today, and my sister and a fellow senator and friend helped me realize the truth and see the error in my ways. And before you ask, Jess, no she didn’t tell me to do this, she just woke me up.” I slightly chuckle as he rubs the cheek she slapped before I glance at Jaxo and sighing, “I’m not saying I forgive you completely,” pausing as I see my brother’s face fall before adding, “yet. But I’ll try to if you promise to help mend our family back together.” His face brightens instantly as he nods turning to look at his girlfriend, who’s blinking blindly. I chuckle, “I wish the two of you best of luck, I have a feeling you’ll need it.” That wakes Jaxo up as she nods, her eyes back to flick between us two Cathars, “Lieutenant call me Ava since we’re almost family.” I glance at Ethan who sighs contently burying his head where her neck and shoulder meet, “Then Jessi is all I’ll answer to as well,” I pause glancing at the Cathar Sergeant still sitting at our booth, “Well, off duty anyway.” Jax—Ava smiles nodding, “Well it seems like the two of you need a dance to get reacquainted,” as she pushes my brother away from her. Ethan frowns before getting up, “Dance with me, sis?” I roll my eyes, “If I must.” My brother smirks, taking my hand, “You must,” then pulling me to the dance floor successfully making his girlfriend laugh.

            We dance for a couple songs before I push my brother towards his girlfriend and pulling a pouting Corso and Jorgan to dance with me as Cheyanne and Darmas are still dancing. Corso just stands there and Jorgan looks uncomfortable, so when two interested women appear I let them take the men away going to find Grant from earlier. After another couple songs and the disappearance of Cheyanne and Darmas, it’s obvious that I have to save the poor woman from an over dramatic Mantellian. She gives me a grateful smile as I do, and I hit the back of his head like Talia did earlier. “Ow! What’s wrong with the two of you today with all the hittin,” Corso nearly slurs, grimacing has he rubs the back of his head. “Are you drunk?” a suddenly appear Jorgan says behind me. I swallow at his closeness and struggle to concentrate on Corso’s now slurred, “No!” Jorgan and I share a look as Jorgan wraps Corso’s arm around his shoulder, “We’d better get him home before he makes a fool of himself.” I scoff, “He’s already done that.” Jorgan nods in agreement before the two of us with a ‘tipsy’ Corso Riggs head towards the door as Talia and Kira are about to reenter. The Jedi wait for us before turning around and walking back out and entering the new family speeder where I refuse to sit anywhere near the Mantellian. Which in hindsight was a good Idea as I nearly fall asleep on Talia’s shoulder clearly worn out from today. Once we land, I notice that Talia silently motions something to A7. I close my eyes as the droid picks me up and carries me inside and up the stairs to my room. “Do you need assistance changing, ma’am?” the chrome protocol droid asks after carefully putting me on the bed. I shake my head, “No. Thank you, A7.” The droid nods, “It is my duty to serve. Breakfast will be served in the morning at the usual time,” then he disappears.

            Shaking my head, I chuckle as I get up and wash off my makeup in the refresher. As I exit I undress once more, putting on my pajamas then renter the refresher to brush my teeth and put my hair up in a high bun so it’s out of my way. Exiting I sit down at my desk to clean my weapons and armor while taking note of any damages my equipment has acquired. Once that’s finished, I again slip on my slippers that a household droid put into my room again along with my clothes from earlier and my bodysuit, everything washed and neatly folded. Smiling to myself I exit my room heading to the exercise room where, unsurprisingly, Jorgan and a struggling Corso already are. Both men are too wrapped in their apparent sparring match to realize they have an audience. Until Corso japs Jorgan in the side then tries to pin him to the mat they’re sparing on. Jorgan though seems to be anticipating his move exactly, as he turns right as Corso’s jap should land then uses Corso’s confusion to pin him to the mat instead. I accidentally let out a soft chuckle, that makes Jorgan’s ears twitch and he looks up, visibly tensing. I swallow causing his green eyes to instantly flick to me and he relaxes slightly.

            Corso follows his graze, “Hi Tae! Sorry about earlier. Was feeling sorry for myself…” I chuckle, “I knew that you were. You do realize you hurt her earlier, right?” He frowns, shaking his head still being pinned to the mat, and I sigh, “She saw you kissing Lara, Corso.” His eyebrows knit together, “What? I didn’t kiss her?!” Jorgan and I share a look and he nods, “You were. Darmas and I had to pull you apart.” Corso frowns before realizing that we aren’t lying to him and he blushes, “Sorry!” I snort “Yeah, sure you are.” His eyes widen as he’s probably thinking about what I said, sure enough he timidly asks, “She saw that?” I nod, “She did then ran out of the cantina.” He groans, beginning to hit his head on the mat repeatedly. I roll my eyes at the dramatic man before walking back out and returning to my room, exhausted. When I enter, I practically collapse on my bed as the covers have been peeled back. I bounce a couple times when I do, then instantly fall asleep.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ==========================  
> Hope ya'll enjoy it and sorry for any mistakes.  
> Positive feedback is greatly appreciated!


	9. On the Hunt

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> *Underlined words are 'translated' into Basic [English]*  
> *See notes at the end of the chapter to learn the meanings of the superscript words*  
> *Underlined and italicized words are ship names*

=-=-=-=-=-=

            The frantic beeping of my alarm wakes me, and I get up with a groan. I stretch before going to change into a more comfortable uniform, as I don’t feel like wearing my armor just yet. With that in mind though, I rummage through both the closet and dresser for anything I might want to bring with me, as well as packing some more personal items that are scattered around my personal guest room; mostly holos. Once everything including my armor is all together, there’s a knock on my door. I frown slightly, wondering who it is as I say, “Enter.” A7 enters, “Good morning, Miss Jessi. I’m here to see if you require any assistance.” I chuckle, “I’m fine A7. All I have to do is take my things downstairs.” The chrome droid glances at what I pointed to before entering farther in and picking it up then leaving. I sigh, chuckling at the droid before leaving the room, heading to the central garden, or forest in this case. I find Kira staring at it through the upstairs window, and I chuckle going to stand next to her. She jumps slightly, before realizing it's me, “Why is this here?” I shrug, “Talia and Cheyanne know better than I, but what I do know is it is part of their parents’ love story. I think every property they own has a recreation of the forest in the center, showing that love is central to them and the lives of their daughters.” She whistles softly, “That’s so sweet. My par…” she stops, shaking her head. I tilt my head, frowning, “What Kira?” She glances at me and sighs, “It’s nothing. Can we go inside?” I nod, frowning internally as I lead her downstairs and into the garden. I breathe in deeply, inhaling the beautiful scent of nature and fresh rain as lightning crackles in the sky above. We’re silent until we exit and run across Talia, we both smile at her faintly as she joins us and together we head to the kitchen, where Master Alena is humming softly as she cooks. The men come in not long after us, both sniffing the air and freshly showered as Corso’s hair is still wet. I grin, as I can’t help to smell the aroma of food either: hash browns, sweet biscuits, bacon, ham, sausages, and eggs.

            Alena, apparently, can feel the men’s stares as she turns just enough to glance at Talia, shaking her head. I’m the first to break the silence as we wait “So, I just remembered that I most likely won’t be able to go with you to Ord Mantell as Havoc has a time-sensitive mission.” Both Corso and Jorgan straighten, as Jorgan turns to Jedi Knight, “You’re going to Mantell?” I see Tali grimace, before nodding, “The person who orchestrated the attack on Coruscant yesterday as a base of operations there,” finishing before turning to me, “And I understand.” I smile sadly, glad she understands, as Corso speaks up, “Does the Capta… does Cheyanne know you’re going there?” Tali chuckles, “Yes, my sister knows. She said the two of you will be joining us, so I hope you don’t mind.” Corso slightly smiles, “I don’t mind. Need to check on a few things anyway.” That makes Tali smile, “Good,” just as her mom starts placing plates in front of us and the men dig immediately causing the rest of us to share a look and laugh before following their lead, however far slower. We’re silent for the rest of the meal until T7-01 and A7-2O join us. “Mistress,” A7 says with a slight bow to Master Alena before turning to Talia, “Young mistress. If you are ready I will take you to the spaceport. I was told that is where young Mistress Cheyanne will be joining you.” Tali turns to look at the droid, “She found ‘ _Lady Luck_ ’?” The silver protocol droid nods, “Yes, I was notified that it was taken to your private family hanger yesterday.” Tali grins, and I internally grimace for not telling her beforehand, as she says “Good.” She then looks around at the rest of us, “Everyone ready?” I nod, hoping the others have at least packed, but thankfully we all follow A7 outside to the covered speeder as it’s still raining heavily.

            We, ironically and unsurprisingly, get there before Cheyanne does so we quickly go to stand under the shelter of the spaceports awning. Thankfully Chey arrives a few minutes later, with a certain blonde gambler. When their speeder stops, Darmas gets out first opening her door and kisses her goodbye, causing a certain Mantellian’s hands to tighten until he sees her walk away from him with what I know is a sad smile. I frown slightly as she runs toward us, trying to hide it with a smile as she breaks the silence, “So Ord Mantell right?” Her sister rolls her eyes at her as she wraps an arm around her and nods. Cheyanne chuckles as she does the same to Tali, and together we enter the spaceport. T7 goes ahead of us, beeping excitedly, every once and a while doing a little spin, as he leads us deeper inside until Cheyanne and Corso head to the Draes' hanger as the rest of us continue. Havoc’s hanger is right across the hall from Jedi, so we walk together silently until we part as well, each entering the elevator that’ll take us to our ships. As we exit the elevator, a fellow soldier stops me with a salute before silently pointing towards the open lobby doors. I nod at him, before Jorgan and I walk through them seeing the ship for the first time. It’s a sight to behold, stunning craft in the Havoc colors with both the symbol of the Republic and Havoc painted on its hull and wings. Inside we, well I am, immediately met with bronze protocol droid as soon as I pass the airlock door. “My new master, at last, I am Seetoo Ennfor, steward of this vessel. It is my extreme good fortune to serve you,” the bronze droid states rather excitedly. I glance at Jorgan who’s frowning at the droid, “I wasn’t aware we got a droid, especially not an overblown protocol droid. It’s not even armor-plated…” I chuckle, glancing at the irritated Cathar before returning my attention to Ennfor, “Lieutenant Jessica Tae, Ennfor. And this grumpy cat is Sergeant Aric Jorgan.” The droid nods before looking at Jorgan, who’s probably glaring at me, “Every soldier requires proper logistics to function. I provide the highest support level available,” soundly slightly offended before it—he continues, “C2-series droids present the latest advances in everything from starship technical maintenance to nutritional advice tailored to your specific organic needs. Welcome aboard the Rendili Hyperworks BT-7 _Thunderclap_ : a rapid assault craft designed especially for Republic Special Forces at enormous taxpayer expense. If you both will follow me, I’ll give you a tour.”

            “We begin here in the boarding ramp and airlock, directly outside the second door is Troop Assembly. We then enter the main hallway where there are stairs between the door to the engine room and Cargo bay, taking you to the last level of the ship where the galley, lounge, training room, the second soldiers’ quarters, the larger community refresher, the vehicle bay as well as the holding room. Across the hall from the stairway is the escape pod access door. In the Cargo bay is the access hatch,” he pauses as he turns and walks us down said hallway to where the holoterminal is along with a lounge on the side. C2-N4 points to the three doors on the stern of the ship, “This first door leads to the medbay. Next to it is the armory, then the XO’s personal quarters and office. The next set of doors first is the other soldiers’ quarters, then the briefing room.” Ennfor then points behind me, “Those are the stairs that take you to the control deck where the bridge is, as well as the turret access. Next to that is the Commanding Officer’s ensuite. Is there anything else you require, mistress?” I shake my head, “I think that’s everything, Ennfor. I just need to permission to leave,” finishing as I head to the holoterminal. Jorgan stands behind me as a Spaceport official appears. “Calling Coruscant Spaceport Authority. Request permission to depart,” I state, standing ease. “You are clear for departure, Lieutenant Tae. Have a pleasant flight!” then he disappears, and I turn to the bronze droid, “Take us out, Ennfor. Our destination is Port Raga.” It-he nods, before going to the bridge as I begin to call Talia and Cheyanne. Jorgan leaves my side to head into the armory, I roll my eyes at him. “Hey Tali,” Chey exclaims as both she and her sister appear. “Get to your ship alright?” I say in amusement. Talia nods, “T7 is ecstatic. We’re departing now.” Chey and I chuckle as all our holoterminals beep. Tali answers as it’s the same person calling the three of us, causing a Republic Navy officer to appear. “Flight Commander Judin here and I’m pleased I was able to reach all of you. Afraid there’s bad news from open space. The Imperial armada’s attacking Republic assets in secret, goading us into violating the Treaty of Coruscant. Fleet Admiral Numinn has authorized the formation of the Coruscant Aegis—elite attack squadron meant to break the Imperial offensive, swiftly and quietly. I’ve been charged with leading and recruiting the member’s and each of you more than qualify.” Chey smirks, “I’m in. I want to be called ‘Crackerjack.’ Eh, that sounded better in my head. How about ‘Ace’?” I notice Tali holds back a chuckle as she says, “I’m in too, Commander.” I, however, laugh, “Same here,” pausing as before going into a more serious tone as Jorgan rejoins, “Anything Havoc can do for the Republic.” Judin grins, “Excellent,” before turning to Chey, “And ‘Ace’ it is Captain Zora Tán. Knight Draé, your callsign will be, ‘Shield.’ Lieutenant Tae, yours is ‘Meteor.’ I’ll send the mission spec to each of you as I receive them. Good luck and good hunting!” ending with a sharp salute before he disappears. “Well, that was interesting,” Chey states breaking the silence, “So see you on Ord Mantell?” I frown, “Havoc won’t be. High priority mission.” She sighs but nods, “Okay. Then I’ll see you there, Tali.” Talia nods with a slight smile, “Land in the orbital station there, Ace. We’ll take a shuttle down.” The smuggler grins hearing her callsign, before doing a weak salute before both disappear. I chuckle, smiling faintly at the sound of entering hyperspace. Jorgan clears his throat, “We are all set, sir.” I glance at him frowning, and he clears his throat again, “Ma’am. Sorry, old habits die hard. Port Raga won’t know what hit them. But I do wish we could go and help sort things out on Mantell.” I nod in agreement, “I wish we could too, Jorgan. Now come on, I want to see this bridge.” He chuckles as he walks behind me as I head up the stairs. I grin when I see the stars blur past, and I notice Jorgan look over at me before shaking his head.

            The journey to Port Raga is an uneventful and quiet one, as I’m enjoying watching the stars pass by and Jorgan has once more disappeared somewhere probably back into the armory. I’m excited to actually fly the Thunderclap, I frown to myself before remembering that the Draés all name their ships. I silently glance around, leaving the bridge to walk the ship. I smile to myself when I figure out its name, hearing the roar of the engines like thunder before I go put on my armor _._ Ennfor silently attaches _Storm_ to Port Raga, using a red light to inform us that we’re ready to board. Jorgan silently joins me in Cargo Bay, then we both enter the port. Inside we see the advance team, General Garza sent ahead. I fight a smile when I see a familiar face. She, however, grins, “Hey, hey, my number-one sister-in-arms! Good to see you again,” she pauses glancing at Jorgan, “Lieutenant. Hope you’re ready to crack some skulls because you’ve got your work cut out for you on this one.” I frown, glancing around, “What do we got, Sergeant.” She lifts an eyebrow, fighting a smile as she glances at Jorgan once more, “A real good time in the making, that’s what we’ve got here,” I fight a rising blush as well as a glance at Jorgan as she continues with a slight smirk, “Let’s start with the accommodations. Port Raga is privately owned and officially neutral, but Wraith and her pals have taken over behind the scenes. My boys and I managed to tweak the sensors and keep your arrival inconspicuous. But as soon as you step out of this hanger, it’s party time.” I grimace, “How many am I up against?” Jaxo grimaces this time, “We couldn’t get a solid count without giving ourselves away. Somewhere between ‘a lot’ and ‘a whole lot’—all Imperial. Wraith has Krasul locked up in a hanger at the other end of the station. There’s heavy security plus a big bonus: explosives. Not enough ‘bang’ to trash the station, of course, but plenty to ruin your day if you’re in the hanger when they blow. Play it careful in there.” I nod, as she sends me the maps of the station she’s acquired, “Thanks for the heads up, Jaxo.” She smiles slightly, “You got it. I’d say it’s time to get out there and get our Senator back. What do you say?” I grin, glad it really isn’t our Senator in there, “Havoc Squad, move out!” glancing at Jorgan, who smirks, “It’s about time.”

            I glance at Jaxo rolling my eyes as she says, “See you on the other side, Tae. Good luck,” ending with a salute then winking once Jorgan turns. I glare at her before turning and following Jorgan to the closed door. I look back, glad that the advance team is hidden as the door opens and we’re met with the first Imperials of the day. Ava’s count between ‘a lot’ and ‘a whole lot,’ I’d say is pretty accurate as bodies of Imperial litter the ground when we finally see the hanger door ahead of us. Even Jorgan seems blown away by the sheer number of Imperials, as I hear him mumble under his breath. Finally, we reach and enter the hanger where Krasul is. I frown seeing him in the center, like a prized animal with eight Imperials guarding him. Jorgan and I make short work of them. “Who the...” Krasul states when he sees us, "Oh. You, I should’ve known Garza would try to keep all of this inside her twisted little family. Well, don’t just stand there. You know how to defuse bombs, don’t you? Wraith said they’ll explode if I leave the room. She has a remote detonator, too, so be quick.” I glance at Jorgan whose frowning, glancing around the seemingly empty room as I say, “Stay calm, Senator. Can you tell me what she’s planning? Why she wanted you?” He nods, his voice rising “That traitor was going to force me to go on record saying the Senate officially abandoned Havoc Squad on Ando Prime!” I frown, “Do you have any idea what the recording was for?” Krasul scoffs, “Is it not obvious? Do you realize what will happen if this situation goes public? The Senate will be a firestorm—all of our judgments publicly called into question. And General Garza and SpecForce Division would be the first to burn.” I nearly growl, and it carries into my voice “This is the Senate’s fault, not SpecForce’s! If what happened at Andro Prime never happened, SpecForce or no, then our situation would have never occurred, Senator Krusal!” Krusal scoffs, “The Senate has done its duty. Garza’s recklessness would reignite a war that the Republic cannot win! I’ll admit, I’d like to see the look on that’s traitor’s face when all of her bombs suddenly shut down. To watch that coward scurry away into the shadows when she realizes that her plans have failed would be priceless!” I scoff, “You realize to her and the rest of them, you’re the traitor who abandoned them when they needed you! And I’m not saying I agree with what they’ve done, as I don’t but I understand being abandoned, Senator. Especially by someone you respect and would die for. But despite that, I will catch them no matter how far any of them go and it is not a promise, it is a solid undeniable fact!” Krasul rolls his eyes, “Yes, yes. I heard your little tale in the inquiry. In that, you have my full authorization, Lieutenant. Now get to work on those bombs.”

            I chuckle internally as I walk around Krasul’s armed chair. It’s armed with redundant triggering mechanisms, including a weight sensor on the Senator’s chair, an antenna for remote detonation, and a heated gas switch. Sadly, if anything is triggered in will detonate the bomb, and Wraith covered all her bases by making it virtually tamper proof. So, to get Krasul out of this safely, or any of us really, Jorgan and I need to somehow prevent them from triggering. I frown removing my datapad and searching for ways we can cancel how they arm. I smirk, finding the solution. I can use the room’s atmospheric controls to create a tempory vacuum, and that will, I’ll not say hopefully, make the gas switch fail without causing a detonation. I glance around the room, trying to pinpoint the controls, smirking slightly when I see them nearby. I glance at Jorgan who’s staring at the Senator’s chair, frowning as I seal the chamber, then walk to the controls to activate it. When I walk back, I disconnect the pressure sensor and the remote detonator. Krasul seems to not like the silence as I stand, “Is it safe, now? Are all the bombs shut down?” I glance at Jorgan, before walking in front of the sitting man, “We’re good to go, Senator.” Krasul nods as he rises, and I bite my lip, hoping Wraith doesn’t have any surprises for us, “Get on with it, Lieutenant. We’ve still got to get out of this disgusting place. Go on, lead the way.” I frown shaking my head as I turn unsealing the doors. “Well, done Lieutenant,” Wraith’s voice carries thru our current hallway, “You were able to give me exactly what I wanted. I’m sorry I couldn't greet you though, seeing the new face of the new apparent Havoc Squad. But sadly, I don’t think I’ll have the opportunity again. Oh, well!” Just as we hear explosions heading in our direction. I curse internally, grabbing Krasul by the arm and running to the hanger, comm-ing Jaxo as I go. “Jaxo get your men out of here! Wraith’s set this entire level to blow! We’ll rendezvous in space.” Jaxo curses, and I can hear her yelling at her men before speaking into the comm, “Thanks for the warning, Lieutenant. The Senator?” I glance back at the panicking man, “Safe and whole.” I can hear her relief, “Good. See you in space.” I nod, “Roger that,” silencing the comm, as we reach where _Storm_ is docked. While Jorgan and Krasul stop inside the cargo hold, I continue running to the bridge, quickly disengaging the docking clamps and pulling away. I finally breathe a sigh of relief when I see Jaxo’s ship fly out of out of the hanger bay we met inside. I tell Ennfor to follow her ship and to dock us together, so we can give them the senator as I know Havoc’s duty isn’t finished yet. I find Jorgan handing a bottle of water to a panting Krasul who’s sitting in the side lounge. Jorgan glances at me as I join them with a sigh, “Despite your thoughts on Garza and the military as a whole, Senator, that war is looming closer as you’ll no doubt learn.” Krasul raises his head, shaking it, and I fight the urge to shake him, “Coruscant was attacked after you were taken, Krusal. I know this because my friend, a Jedi Knight, stopped it. It would’ve been worse than the Sacking if she hadn’t prevented it. So, you need to start preparing for the inevitable, Senator, or we are going to lose. And most importantly, you have to believe that we can win even when it seems impossible.” Krasul frowns, looking up at me, “You just want there to be a war, Lieutenant.” I scoff, “You serve with my older brother, Ethan Tae, and my father before him. You’ll find I’m much the same but unlike them, I know that sometimes war is inevitable especially when it concerns the Sith and their Empire.” Finishing just as I hear the docking ramp secure around Jaxo’s ship. I step away from him to greet Ava Jaxo.

            Jaxo fights a grin as she enters with two of her men, still in their un-symboled armor. I chuckle silently as I lead them to a still recovering Krasul. “Well, look what we’ve got here, boys,” Jaxo says, glancing at her men, “Welcome to safety, Senator.” Krasul frowns, “Who in the blazes are you? Mercenaries? This is ridiculous!” I sigh as Jaxo frowns as the seemingly ungrateful Senator, as she sarcastically says, “Oh, yeah. General Garza hires mercs to rescue Republic Senators all the time.” I chuckle raising a hand to silence Krasul’s retort, “No, Senator. This is Sergeant Ava Jaxo from the advance recon team, who needs to learn to show respect to Senators,” sending a pointed look at Ava, who nearly snorts probably remembering last night. Krasul, however, does snort, “More of Garza’s twisted family.” I groan, sending Ava a sympathetic look. She mouths, ‘This normal?’ I nod and she rolls her eyes, ‘Figures.’ I chuckle as she addresses me, “So, you rescued our charming friend here, obviously. Nice work. Any luck taking down Wraith?” I shake my head, “No, we never saw her, I’m assuming rescuing Krasul tipped her off.” Jaxo frowns, “Heh. Not sure you got a fair trade on that one, buddy. Wraith must be even better than they say. We were watching every inch of the place—nobody saw her leave.” Krasul interrupts, apparently not liking being ignored, “Is someone going to get me to Coruscant anytime soon?” I can tell Jaxo is fighting a glare as she says, “Oh, don’t worry, Your Honorable Eminent Senatorness. You’re catching a ride with us, the mercs.” I fight a chuckle, “Thanks for taking care of everything, Sergeant.” Jaxo smirks, “No problem at all. Besides,” looking back at Krasul, “we’re going to have a fun time together, aren’t we, Senator?” Krasul groans, “Yes. Delightful.” Ava and I share an amused glance as she addresses me, “Garza will want to hear from you ASAP, and we have a Senator to deliver. Take care of yourself, okay?” I chuckle, “Stay safe out there, Jaxo.” She grins as her men escort Krasul to their ship, “So long, Tae,” ending with a salute that I return.

            I breathe in deeply once our ships detach and I see Jaxo’s enter hyperspace from the bridge. Jorgan walks up behind me, “You did remarkably well, ma’am, I don’t know how you kept your cool sometimes.” I chuckle facing the tawny Cathar, “Comes from being a Senator’s daughter, I suppose. It’s a lot like how I remember my grandfather and father talking.” Jorgan frowns slightly before the holo terminal beeps. I sigh, heading to answer it with Jorgan behind me. “Ah, Tae, Jorgan,” Garza begins once her image solidifies, “I was just talking to Jaxo. Congratulations. Saving Senator Krasul will certainly help our affairs with the Senate. We needed someone to owe us a favor-well done.” I fight a scowl, as I say what seems to become my mantra, “I just did my job.” Garza chuckles, probably thinking the same, “You’ve accomplished something very important—something beyond even your assignment to hunt down Tavus and the other traitors. You’re in the field, Tae… you see how far the Empire is reaching. A full attack isn’t far off, now.” I grimace as I nod, _even that’s past now,_ as she continues, “To keep the Empire’s forces at bay, we need the Senate’s support. We need allies.” I nod, “I’m glad I could help the cause.” Garza smiles, “Yes, you’ve done quite well in that regard. One thing, Lieutenant, I was disappointed to learn of Wraith’s escape. She’s capable of causing great turmoil.” I nod grimly, “I’m sorry, General. It couldn’t be helped. None of us saw her, we believe saving Krasul warned her.” She nods, sadly or disappointedly I’m not sure, “Then it appears she may be one step ahead of us.” At that, I shake my head, “I’m not so sure, General, Jorgan and I heard her voice once we were escaping with Krasul. It didn’t seem like she knew I survived Mantell.” With that she grins, “That is good news. They might all be in the dark, thinking we are still unaware of the full-scale problem. Which makes our next step all that more crucial. Our technicians have decoded the first set of data from the Coruscant relay. Your first target is on Taris. Hopefully, we’ll be able to decode the second before you finish on Taris.” I nod, “Taris,” saying it to memorize, “—I’ll move out right away.” She smirks, “Good luck. Garza out.” I sigh, as she disappears and holo Cheyanne, who answers quickly on her ship. “Hey, I take it you’ve left Ord Mantell?” I state, trying to be chipper. She frowns, obviously not buying it, “Yeah. What’s wrong, Jess? Mission didn’t go well?” I sigh, once more, “It went fine. Just didn’t end the way we wanted it to.” Chey grimaces, “Have you gotten your next assignment?” I nod, frowning as Jorgan reenters the armory, “It’s on Taris, of all places.” She tilts her head, “That’s apparently my next stop as well.” I try to grin, but not successfully as I add Tali to the call, as Ennfor overheard our new destination as we’re entering hyperspace. as soon as Tali’s image settles, I ask, “Where are you off to now?”

            “Taris,” Talia states simply, “the two of you?” Chey and I share a glance as we say, “Same.” Tali sighs “Well, I’ll see you there then, huh.” We both chuckle, “Seems like,” then everyone vanishes as the call ends and I turn to head into the armory to see why Jorgan seems to be obsessing about it. Whistling as I enter, seeing the racks of weapons of all sorts, though I chuckle when I see Jorgan jump abruptly before he turns around, “I see why you’ve been rather obsessed with the armory now.” He frowns as I continue, “Will I always need to find you in here, Jorgan?” He shakes his head, “Helps me think, sorting through this. It was disorganized before.” I nod, “Organization is a key to a strong unit.” He nods, “I reviewed your service record after that ZR-57 op. Been meaning to discuss it with you. You made quite an impression at the Academy; accelerated training programs, instructor recommendations. Graduated top of your class. Heck of a transcript, but classroom’s no substitute for field experience.” I frown slightly, my eyebrows knitting together, “Why were you looking through my record?” slightly worried where this is heading. He crosses his arms, “I like to know who I’m serving with. Especially if they’re giving the orders. When I signed on with the Deadeyes, my CO was Lieutenant Vorne—certified war hero, as decorated as they come. When we gave an order, we trusted it, followed it to the little. A squad needs that kind of commitment to operate effectively.” I nearly groan, “I respect and know that. I expect you to give me that the same level of dedication.” He scoffs, “I always give a hundred percent. That’s not the issue. Havoc Squad is the Republic’s most elite outfit. We tackle the missions no one else can handle. Traitor of no, Tavus is a tough act to follow. You think you’re up to it?” I walk closer to him forcing him to look down at me, fairly reminiscent of our first meeting when he called me a rookie, and that memory causes a slight growl to enter my voice, “I wouldn’t have accepted to join or lead Havoc if I wasn’t, Jorgan.” He swallows, chuckling slightly, “Hmm. Good answer,” his green eyes closely watching my face, “You’ve got confidence, and plenty of raw talent. Maybe you’ll pull this off,” ending in a near whisper like a low rumble. It seems like the distance between the two of us is closing, but it’s probably my imagination, or desire, as it seems like a spell is cast over the two of us.

            However, a stark beeping of the ship’s intercom breaks it and we both turn away, him back to sorting and organizing the armory and myself to the bridge to see what Ennfor found, a distress call. I nod for him to play it, “This is a passenger on the Starship _Esseles_. Our ship is being followed by an Imperial dreadnought.” I frown, _that’s it!?_ I nearly turn to yell at the droid for interrupting whatever that was. I tell myself to breathe and calm down, as Ennfor receives a message from a ship called _Unity_ , alerting us that they’re going in to help. I sigh, figuring it’s Tali’s ship, then I tell Ennfor to change our course to aid the _Esseles_ as I go inform Jorgan, wondering what is going on with me. Jorgan joins me on the bridge before we drop out of hyperspace. We exit behind _Unity _ and _Lady Luck_ , and the scene before us would be comical if seen in a holovid but not in the viewport of a starship; a large _Harrower_ -class dreadnought, the _Emperor’s Glory_ , preparing to open fire on a small _Wander_ -class transport, the _Esseles_. We, thankfully, come out of hyperspace close enough to the _Esseles_ to avoid being spotted by the _Emperor’s Glory_ ’s scanners. I swallow before sharing a glance with Jorgan, before we both run to the airlock, as I tell Ennfor to land us inside as we go. We’re ansy and rearing to go as soon as we land and we run out the airlock doors before the ramp is fulling lowered. The two Jedi are already out by the time the rest of us join them, then we begin running to the bridge, finding the woman on the holo immediately as we hear, “Warning! Warning! Incoming fire! All hands, brace for incoming! Repeat, all hands—” as the first volley of fire hits the transport, knocking all of us to the floor. Tali is the first one up, as the rest of us steadily rise as she runs to the Twi’lek passenger’s side “Ma’am, can you hear me?” I see the Twi’lek nod before Talia continues, “Are you alright?” She nods, “I am. You’re the ones who answered my call, aren’t you?” Chey and I go to Tali’s side as she nods, “We are.” The Twi’lek sighs in relief, “You need to get to the bridge. The captain will need all of the help he can get right now—go, hurry!” I glance at Talia as another volley hits the ship, but this time we’re ready and we continue running to the bridge.

            As we reach the elevator to take us there, we run into two rewired power droids. Five of us share a glance, all thinking the same thing, _there’s Imperial agents on board._ The six of us easily take them out, before going to the command deck. We enter the bridge in time to witness an electrical shock hit a Human man, who must be the captain of the ship as we hear someone exclaim, “Captain Tyrus!” Then another smaller male Human runs to kneel at his side, “Come on, Tyrus! You can make it, sir, you can make it!” Causing another man to say, “He’s gone, sir. You’re in charge now—what are our orders?” Making it clear that the kneeling man is, well was the First Officer, now Captain of this ship. “Your orders? Our weapons are out, shields are out, comms are out! There’s nothing we can do!” Talia clears her throat, and I can feel the aura of peace surrounding her, “Panicking won’t help, Captain.” The new captain turns abruptly before walking quickly towards us, “Who asked you? We’re in the middle of a situation here, the bridge is off-limits.” The sensible one, Navigator Plex, intervenes, “Sir, we need all the help we can get. If we don’t keep it together here, we’re finished.” Haken, the new captain, turns to him, “Keep what together? The Imperials have us by the throat! We’re as good as dead already.” Chey frowns, “What’s wrong with you? Are you really going to let your ship fall to the Imperials so easily?” Haken scoffs, pointing to the _Emperor’s Glory _ in the viewport, “That ship behind us is one of the biggest in the Imperial fleet. We didn’t stand a chance.” Thankfully the communications officer, Raste, interrupts him, “Sir! Incoming message—the Imperial ship is hailing us!” I frown, _why are we being hailed now?_ “What?” Haken exclaims before seemingly coming to his senses, “Oh. Well, put them on.”

“Republic Transport _Esseles_ ,” says a vaguely familiar Imperial voice, smug with his apparent victory, “This is Grand Moff Rycus Kilran. Your defenses are entirely disabled. Attempt no resistance.” I fight a growl as I step closer, “We are aware of our situation, Kilran. Just tell us why you’re here.” Kilran chuckles, “So feisty. Your ship is transporting a known anti-Imperial terrorist and seditionist: the so-called ‘Ambassador’ Vyn Asara. I’ve come to collect her.” Haken says, “Who? We didn’t take on any passengers by that name. I’ve never even heard of this person!” Kilran scoffs, “Interesting. Lying or incompetent? No matter. My agents aboard your ship have confirmed the ambassador is there.” I slightly smirk, _thank you for that,_ as Corso says, “You have spies on our ship?” Kilran smirks, “I have eyes everywhere. Imperial soldiers are preparing to board your ship through it primary airlock. My agents will ensure that you do not interfere with them. If you attempt to stop my men from arresting Ambassador Asara, I will have every living thing aboard the Esseles killed.” With that, he disappears and I growl, tightening my hand, forcing my nails to extend into deadly claws. “Where’s the primary airlock?” Kira states, “We’ll stop the Imperials as they try to board.” Plex says, “Weren’t you listening? If we try to fight, they’ll slaughter us! We have to cooperate!” Haken shakes his head, “It won’t matter. Kilran has us, now. He’ll kill us all—he’s famous for it. The only one he wants alive is the ambassador,” apparently Kilran calmed him, now making him the ‘voice of reason,’ “If Kilran gets the ambassador while we’re sitting in his sights, we’re goners. Those soldiers have to be stopped before they can succeed.” Talia nods, “We’ll ensure that no Imperial soldiers make it aboard this ship.” Haken slightly smiles, “It’s brave of all of you to volunteer. Listen—I’m sorry I lost it earlier. It means a lot to have your help right now. Thank you.” All of us nod, as Talia glances at Kira, “We enjoy a challenge.” Kira smiles as Haken continues, “Well you’ll sure have one. I’ll have our security team meet you by the primary airlock. They haven’t seen much action, but Commander Narlock knows his stuff. Good luck. We’re all counting on you.” We nod in parting before running to the elevator that’ll take us to the docking level. Sadly, we meet resistance in the form of several Imperial agents which are rather easily handled and we continue to the elevator then run to meet up with Narlock and his team of three fresh security guards.

            “This is it, men,” we hear as we exit the elevator, “This is what you’ve been training for. The Imperials are coming, and we’re not going to let them past, are we?” We then hear three voices say, “Sir, no, sir!” Narlock continues, “And we aren’t fighting alone! Experienced volunteers,” pause slightly to point to us, “are going to help us—the Imps won’t stand a chance!” I walk forward, saluting him sharply, “My Squad is at your service, Commander.” Narlock’s eyes slightly widen as he sees the Havoc patch on my armor, as well as the two Jedi and their lightsabers. “Do you hear that, men? Our friends here are going to chop through these Imps like nothing! The Imps will cut through any second now—we need to take up defensive positions.” The men nod then run into their positions, just as five Imperials cut through: a large Lieutenant and four simple soldiers. The security guards easily take down the soldiers with help from Corso and Jorgan, just leaving the rather menacing lieutenant. He’s smart not letting the Jedi get close to him, but is still taking heavy fire from us. I notice Kira disappear with help from the Force and the fight becomes short-lived as a green blade goes thru his chest. When his body falls, the men start cheering, “Hah! Victory! We’ve done it, men, we’ve done it! The ship is saved!”

            “I’m sorry, Commander, but that… that isn’t the case,” says a very familiar voice belonging to the Rutian Twi’lek that called us here. “You’re Ambassador Asara, aren’t you?” She nods, “I am. But that’s not important right now—we have a serious problem. First officer Haken walked us right into a trap. The attack on this airlock was a ruse. After Haken sent you here, Mandalorians snuck aboard, they were led by a Mandalorian mercenary called ‘Ironfist’.” Both sisters pale slightly as Corso says, “We defeated the first group of boarders—there’s no reason we can’t defeat this group, too.” I shake my head as Jorgan’s fists tighten extending his claws in anger, as Asara says, “It gets worse, I’m afraid. Ironfist and his Mandalorians stormed the bridge, and now the entire area is locked down tight.” Kira frowns, “Then we have to stop the Imperials from gaining control of the ship!” Asara nods, “That’s why I rushed to find you. Something has to be done.” Narlock frowns, “What is this all about? Why are the Imperials so desperate to capture you?” She sighs, “Because of my work. I’m a Republic Ambassador. I travel to Imperial controlled planets and convince their government to come over to our side.” Kira whistles as her master says, “Confronting the Empire for sake of diplomacy takes a lot of courage.” She scoffs slightly, “I’m no hero. I just show them an alternative to Imperial control. But we can talk about my work later.” Narlock nods, “We need to retake the bridge. The longer we leave the Imps in control, the harder it will be to remove them.” Asara sighs, “I already told you, Ironfist has the bridge locked down. There’s no way in or out.” Narlock frowns, crossing his arms, “A security lockdown…that’s bad. Chief Engineer Salen might know of a workaround.” I frown, “You’re the security commander—don’t you have the authority to cancel the lockdown?” He shakes his head, “The bridge lockdown can’t be canceled from the outside. No, it’s Salen or nothing. He and his team will be down in the engineering section. I’m sure they’ll be able to help us.” We nod as Asara says, “We’ll need a diversion. If the Imperial notice the hatches to engineering opening, they’ll flood the area with soldiers.” Narlock nods, “My men and I can handle that. Form up, men! We’re going to start some trouble!” We nod in agreement as Narlock continues, “We’ll give those Imps something to think about, won’t we, boys?” Asara rolls her eyes, “I’ll go along with Commander Narlock. Once you’ve cleared a path to engineering, I’ll double-back and join up with you there. Good luck.” On the way to Engineering, we fight three assault pods dispatching sabotage droids as well as slicer droids. We also deal with Imperial infiltrators on the Engineering deck. Once we reach where Salen should be, Kira walks up to the console that controls the large blast door separating us from Salen and his team revealing a force field.

            “Whoa,” one of the crewmen said, “You’re Jedi! Chief! Hey, Chief! Look, there’s Jedi out there!” An older man approaches the field, “You must be crazy, coming all the way down here with the Imps everywhere.” Tali sighs, “Commander Narlock said that you might know of a way to unlock the bridge. The Imperials have it sealed off.” The older man, Salen, rubs his face, “The Imps pulled the lockdown? You’ve got to be kidding me,” finishing just as I hear footstep from behind me, Asara. “You really cleared this place out. I didn’t run into a single Imperial on my way down here. Listen—there’s no time to waste. Commander Narlock and his men are being overrun—we have to get the bridge unlocked now.” Salen frowns, “So I’ve heard. I’d invite you in, but the lockdown has our doors sealed, too.” I fight a chuckle as Tali asks, “Are you going to be safe in there? Do you need help getting out?” Salen shakes his head, “Getting the bridge back in our control is much more important. Now let’s see…” The crewman who first saw us says, “What about a reactor reset? That would disengage the security locks, wouldn’t it, sir?” Salen nods, “Yeah, but a reactor reset vents the engineering compartment—we’d be blown into space. Besides, controls are on the other side of the door.” I grimace, _well that’s not an option_ , as Tali asks, “What else could we do to open up the bridge?” Salen tilts his head, thinking, “The secondary conduits. If they’re all off, the security will go down, too. Then we’ll be in business. They’re spread around a bit, but a droid could shut them a down at once. But we don’t have any droids on board so you’ll have to shut them all down manually.” I notice Talia glancing at Kira, slightly smirking, “That’ll work.” But Asara shakes her head, “There’s no time to go running around all over this ship. If we don’t act now, the Imperial will overwhelm us.” My eyebrows knit together as Tali chuckles, “Don’t worry. We’ve got this covered,” as she reaches for something, “Teeseven did you hear all that?” I hear an affirmative chirp, and Tali’s answering chuckle as she glances at Salen, “Can my droid shut it down from anywhere?” Salen nods, “Yeah, then all you’ll have to do is override the bridge’s auxiliary power conduit.” She nods, her smirk returning, “We’ll make our way back up to the command deck. Once we reach it, T7 will shut the conduits down and we’ll storm the bridge.” Asara swallows, “That’s better than the alternative. I’d don’t know where I’d be if you hadn’t come. Probably locked in an Imperial prison or worse. I’ll go and help Narlock with another diversion. So, you have as little resistance as possible when you attack the bridge. You’ll still have to deal with Ironfist, though. And that’s no small challenge.” Kira frowns slightly, “What do you know about him?” Asara sighs, “I only know Ironfist by his reputation, but he’s been doing Grand Moff Kilran’s dirty work for a long time now. He’s never been captured, defeated or even driven back. You have your work cut out for you.” I smirk, glances at a slightly growling Jorgan, “That’s because he hasn’t met us yet.” Asara slightly smiles, “Just be careful. Mandalorians always have a few tricks up their sleeves. Alright, no more time to waste,” pausing to touch to comm onto her earcone, “Narlock, are you there? Can you hear me?”

            “Copy, this is Narlock! Set for second offensive?” comes Narlock’s voice over Asara’s comm. She nods, “That’s right, Commander. I’m on my way to join you now,” she let’s go of her earcone, “Narlock and I will do our best to keep Ironfist distracted. Good luck,” then she runs the way she came, heading back to the security team. We go the roundabout way to the command deck, first going to the elevator to the Port Hangar deck. This time it’s Mandalorians we clear out, meaning that’s where Ironfist made his entrance. Thankfully where we landed our ships is on the opposite side of where they landed. Once the floor is cleared we then go to the elevator that’ll take us to the Command deck, where even more Mandalorians are waiting. Once they’re dealt with, Kira heads to the conduit to shut down the auxiliary power while T7 shuts off the secondary conduits. Immediately the barrier blocking us from the bridge shuts down and we see Haken and his crew are restrained with blasters pointed at their heads. The only helmetless Mando starts slowly clapping as he rises from his chair as we get closer and my blood almost runs cold, Ironfist. “Well, well. I was wondering when you’d finally show up,” Ironfist says as he’s now facing us, “This is it? There aren’t more of you?” I glance at Chey as she confidently says, “Just give up, Ironfist. We don’t want to hurt you or your men.” Ironfist chuckles, “Strange view of the situation,” as he glances at Haken and his crew, “Guess you’d have to be a little crazy to put up the fight you have. Let’s vape these worthless scum and get back to work.” The sisters share a glance as both Jedi ignite their lightsabers, then the sisters attack his men first, letting the rest of us attack Ironfist. Once they’re dealt with, Tali joins Kira on the melee attack while we, the distance fighters, shoot. Finally, we begin tiring him, and his defenses start crumbling allowing Talia to drive a lightsaber into his heart.

            “You did it!” Haken exclaims as Corso relieves them of their stun cuffs. “First Officer Haken,” Asara says as she and Narlock enter the bridge, “Do you have any spare shuttles in the hanger bay?” Haken nods, slightly frowning, “Spare shuttles? Yes, we do, but I don’t…” Asara interrupts him while turning to us, “Then that’s our only chance. You have to board the _Emperor’s Glory_ and disable the tractor beam so that we can all escape.” We all glance at each other, “If this is what must be done to save the people on this ship, we’ll do it.” Asara smiles, “I knew we could count on you. I’ve been aboard warships like his. The tractor beam controls should be easy to find if you know where you’re going.” Haken tilt’s his head, “Ambassador, you’re familiar with the layout, perhaps you should go along to help get the tractor beam shut down.” Asara tilts her head as well, thinking it thru before nodding, “Hmm. We need every advantage we can get.” I nod, “It will be good to have you along, Ambassador.” Asara smiles, “I’ll do my best to help in any way I can.” Narlock cuts in, “Ambassador, before you go—take a spare uniform. We wouldn’t want any Imperials to recognize you.” Asara nods, “Good thinking, Commander—thank you. Now let’s get moving,” then both her and Narlock walk away. “Good luck out there,” Haken states as he salutes, “We’re all counting on you.” Jorgan and I return his salute before we head to the elevator, where we’re stopped once more. “Hey!” Haken yells running up behind us, “Hold up a minute. I need to talk to you before you go. I just talked to Salen from engineering. He told me what options you had down there. Thank you for coming when you did, I’m not sure how much longer we would of… anyway, we owe you our lives. I’ve held you up for too long already, good luck.” Then he turns around and walks back to the bridge. I tilt my head once the elevator starts moving, “He had me worried there for a moment…” Corso frowns, “Why? You thought he’d ask you to do something bad…” Chey nods hesitantly, “Like leaving Asara on the Imperials ship, since he brought her into the little plan.” Corso frowns, “He wouldn’t have asked that. She’s a passenger on his ship…” Talia chuckles darkly, “Think about it, Corso. The only reason Kilran is attacking the _Esseles_ is because of her. He might think that leaving her would mean that Kilran would not bother them again on this trip.” Corso shakes his head furiously as we head to the shuttle with T7 joining us, “I don’t believe it.” Kira sighs as Jorgan says, “I can. What’s best for many outweighs the needs of a few.” Corso scoffs, “I refuse to think like that, so it doesn’t matter.” Cheyanne glances at him, rolling her eyes, “Two words, Cowboy. Mantellian Stronghold.” Corso pales slightly, “That doesn’t count.”

            “Come on we have to hurry,” a disguised Asara says once we’ve exited the shuttle, “First, you need to disable the power station then you can deactivate the tractor beam.” We nod then run out of the hanger, removing all resistance, which is mostly droids so it’s mildly concerning as it should be soldiers, a long our way to the left of the hanger bay since waste disposal is on the right. Since we’re on the Maintenance Deck, we need to go up to the engineering deck where the power station is. After removing the threats, getting soldiers finally, T7 goes to turn off the power conduit while making false alarms in other decks as well as deleting data on the Esseles and Asara. When he’s done, we hear, “Well. I’ve seen some incredible thing in my time, but you’ve just topped the list,” from a familiar Imperial voice behind us, Kilran. We turn now facing the holographic him as he continues, “I’m sorry I couldn’t greet you in person—if you had let me know you were stopping by.” I frown, crossing my arms, “Your taunts are useless. This won’t stop until the _Esseles_ is free.” He sighs, “You sadden me. I can only be cordial through so much. My men will be along shortly to escort you to the accommodations I’ve arranged.” Jorgan snorts, “Your men wouldn’t stop us, Kilran.” The Grand Moff chuckles, “You greatly overestimate your chances. Ironfist wasn’t the only weapon in my arsenal—nor the deadliest. See you soon.” When he disappears, I growl and we make our way thru the rest of the deck since it’s connected to the power core where the tractor beam controls are. And true to his word, we have more Imperial soldiers mixed in with the droids as well as dreadnought battledroids. For some extra damage to the ship, we shut off the two power consoles which causes a large droid, an ISS-994 Power Droid to be exact, to emerge on the other side of the power core where we’ll make our getaway. First, before we do that, we must defeat the large droid, an ISS-7 Guardian Battledroid, blocking us from the tractor beam controls.

            The fight is rather short with two Jedi, T7, the smugglers, and Havoc. When T7 shuts down the controls, giving it an electric charge to be safe, we hear Kilran’s voice, “I hope you realize this is getting out of hand. You’re leaving me with precious few options.” We chuckle as we run to fight the ISS-994 power droid, ending it quickly as well before heading the elevator to go down to the detention level, where we’ll hopefully find our escape route back to the shuttle. Kilran is upping the number of soldiers in our path back, so he must be letting desperate which is both good and bad. He’ll make more mistakes this way but will be far more lethal but at least we are waning his numbers down but like Haken said, this is one of the largest ships in the Imperial fleet. As we run thru the waste collection level, Kilran speaks again, “I don’t want to do anything drastic. But I will. Surrender. Now.” We roll our eyes before grimacing knowing how we’ll reach the hangar, thru the waste disposal. Slowly we manage to drop out into the garbage masher quickly finding the door out and disposing of the droids and soldiers in our way, then we hear Kilran speak once more, “Very well. You give me no other choice.” My heart plummets when I notice there’s more guard’s blocking the hanger we arrived in as well as a red force field blocking us. Apparently, it’s not the worst as I notice the Jedi and Chey are paling slightly. I groan, “A Sith?” Talia nods once and I grimace before opening fire on the five soldiers blocking us from the force field, as the others follow suit. Once we reach the force field we see the Sith enter with four Imperial soldiers in white armor. The three security guards from a protective arc around Asara, pointing their blasters towards to newcomers. I stifle a gasp as the hooded Sith, instantly flings the first one into a nearby wall causing the other two to run back towards the shuttle leaving Asara alone but she stands her ground raising her own blaster. The Sith then Force chokes him until he grows tired of the guard’s gasps and throws his red lightsaber into his heart and summons it back, causing Asara to stumble back in fear. I ‘m ansy as T7 works to lower the force field as the emotions get the best of Chey as she tells T7 to back away before she shoots the controls multiple times until we hear the force field drop. By then the Sith is Force choking Asara, forcing her to float in the air two feet above the floor. His smirk grows as he finds her suffering, amusing and takes pleasure in her pain before he drops her and turns to face us.

            “Greetings,” it—he begins, his skin deathly grey and his eyes blood red, “At last—real, live Jedi. How I’ve looked forward to this. I am Vokk. A true Sith cannot go long without a true challenge.” Kira smirks “Well, you’ve got one,” as she ignites her green saberstaff. Vokk chuckles, “To destroy dangerous foes… that is the way of a true Sith. When I carve your hearts from your chests, your fellow Jedi will sense your defeat. As will my master.” Talia answers, “Give up your hatred. Feel the power of the light.” Vokk scoffs, “The light is weak, insignificant just like you,” I tilt my head at that, _didn’t you just call us dangerous foes?_... as he continues, “The power of the dark side is infinite…are you ready to face oblivion?” Tali groans, “I’d hoped you would turn back from this madness. But you give us no other choice.” Vokk scoff once more, “I had hoped for a Jedi who could provide a true challenge!” I internally roll my eyes as he attacks, giving the rest of us an opening to fire on the soldiers he brought with him, leaving the Jedi to fight the Sith. Once the soldiers are finished, I run to Asara side checking that she’s alright before moving her to the shuttle then checking on the guards with Chey’s help, leaving Corso and Jorgan to deal with lifeless one then helping them all into the shuttle. As we do, Kilran speaks one last time, “I’m charging up our main turbo lasers batteries. In a few moments, your pathetic ship and all your pathetic friends will be nothing but floating debris.”

            ‘// T7 = sabotaged weapon power // T7 + Talia + Friends = escape now //’ T7 beeps happily racing into the shuttle. We glance at each other before running to follow the astromech onboard. The ride back to the ship is uneventful as the turbo lasers are still charging and for some reason, Kilran is still focusing his firepower on the _Esseles_ , so we safely land inside. We then run to the elevator impatiently waiting for it to take us to the command deck then run to the bridge, where we meet with Haken who immediately turns, “Everyone’s aboard Plex! Get us out of here, now!” and we begin to breathe easy as the _Emperor’s Glory_ disappears as we enter hyperspace. Haken turns to us, “We’re safe! You did it—you did what no one else could have done. You’ve saved us all. We owe all of you our lives… every one of us. So, on behalf of the passengers and crew of the Republic transport _Esseles_ , thank you.” Talia chuckles, glancing at each member of the group, “We were only doing what was right.” Haken chuckles, “There’s no reason for modesty. What you accomplished here is truly amazing. I took up a collection from everyone on the ship—hopefully, these credits will help you save other people in need, the same way you’ve saved us.” When Talia opens her mouth to protest, Haken raises his hand, “I insist you take it, master Jedi.” She sighs as we chuckle and Asara walks up, “Thank you for everything you’ve done here. The Republic needs heroes like all of you now more than ever.” Talia shakes her head, “We wouldn’t have been here to help if you hadn’t of put out that distress call, Asara. This is all thanks to you.” Haken’s eyes widen, “You called them here, Ambassador?” She shrugs, “When I heard we were being followed by an Imperial battleship, I put out a distress call and they answered it.” Haken’s eyes flick to us, “Then we are even more in your debt.” Cheyanne chuckles “No, you are not.” He shakes his head, “Where were you off too?” I answer, “Taris.” Haken nods, smiling, “Just where we’re going. Plex, have you set our course to Taris?” The navigation officer nods, “Yes sir.” Haken nods, turning towards us, “Once we’re out of hyperspace, your ships are free to disembark until then you are our most vital passengers. Enjoy yourselves.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ==========================  
> 1-5 | Ord Mantell   
> 6-8 | Coruscant  
> 9 | Interlude  
> 10-11 | Taris  
> 12-… | Nar Shaddaa  
> ==========================  
> Hope ya'll enjoy it and sorry for any mistakes.  
> Positive feedback is greatly appreciated!


	10. A Target Found

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> *Underlined words are 'translated' into Basic [English]*  
> *See notes at the end of the chapter to learn the meanings of the superscript words*  
> *Underlined and italicized words are ship names*  
> ~ Happy Reading! ~

=-=-=-=-=-=

  The journey to Taris is relaxing as the  _Esseles_  crew and passengers did everything in their power to thank us. None of us were ever alone, someone always either staring at us or thanking us profusely. It was getting very obnoxious, some deeming to go stay in their ship and never leave, Jorgan, annoyingly enough. That man makes it very hard to get to know him. Others enjoyed the attention, Corso and strangely T7. Kira, Talia, Cheyanne and myself plus two women from Chey’s ship, Syreena, and Risha, tended to enjoy the things the crew did to relax us: spa days, massages, etc. The crew even made sure no one would bother us during those times, much to our enjoyment so we were able to convince Mr. Grumpy Cat to join us. Nonetheless, I was thrilled when we neared our destination. All of us nearly ran to our ships, where we waited for clearance to disembark. Once we receive it, we disembark like the ship’s about to explode, which thankfully it isn’t. I breathe a sigh of relief once the murky green and tan planet is seen from our bridge, Jorgan, surprisingly at my side. When Ennfor enters, I have him take us in as Jorgan and I holo command. “Come in, Lieutenant Tae,” an older woman’s voice sounds as the holo image solidifies, “This is General Garza. Do you copy?” I nod, “I read you loud and clear, General.” I glance at Jorgan as he leans against a nearby wall and Garza continues, “I understand you’ve just arrived on Taris. I’ve already contacted our local regimental commander, Colonel Gaff, to secure his support. Gaff doesn’t know the specifics or your mission—only that he should assist you in every way possible. I’d like to keep it that way...” I internally grimace, outwardly nod, “I’ll keep quiet on the details, General.” Garza nods once with a ghost of a smile, “That’s for the best, Lieutenant. Taris is a dangerous and untamed wasteland. A Sith attack several centuries ago leveled every standing structure and virtually eradicated the local population. Where cities once rivaled Coruscant, only swamps and ruins remain. Reclaiming and rebuilding the planet has become an important symbolic goal for the Senate.” I nod, glancing at Jorgan, “If there’s any way I can aid in the reconstruction, I’ll do it.” General Garza chuckles, “Of course. Just don’t lose sight of your primary objective.” _Which is…?_  I nearly growl in frustration when she continues, “That’s all I have for you, Lieutenant. Report in when your operation is complete.” I swallow, “I’ll contact you as soon as the job’s done, General.” With that, the holo shuts down and Jorgan growls, “That’s it!?” Beginning to pace, “No mention of our target. We’re just supposed to figure it out ourselves?!” I nearly roll my eyes, my thoughts echoing his, as I walk towards him placing a hand on his shoulder, “I don’t like it either, Jorgan. But we have a job to do. Ranting about it won’t solve it.” The tawny Cathar glares at me, his forest green eyes narrowing. _Oh, if looks could kill._  This time I do roll my eyes as I turn, “Prepare to move out, soldier.” I smirk when I hear him growl once more, _stop acting like a rookie, Jorgan._

Sergeant Jorgan meets me at the airlock, his sniper rifle wrapped to his back, and a blaster on his hip and a knife on the other, wearing his white Havoc armor. “Ready?” I ask unnecessarily. He growls slightly, nodding, “Yes, sir.” My eyes narrow at him, _really trying to anger me now…_  but other than that, I ignore him, choosing to walk out of the ship, wondering what his problem is. We’re silent until we reach the main floor of the spaceport where we’re reunited with Cheyanne and Corso. We find Talia, T7, and Kira once we enter the spaceport’s main room that overlooks where the ships come into land. Shortly after that is when we’re met by a larger gentleman, who stops us with a raised hand. “Hold a minute, please,” Bardo from his nametag says, turning to another man, “Strom?” Strom looks up a scanner to all of us, “Scanning… ID confirmed. This is the group.” Our group glances at each other, clueless, as Bardo nods and begins, “Welcome to Taris, Master Jedi, Lieutenant, Captain. Apologies for the delay, but Governor Saresh requests your help with some… security issues on the reconstruction project.” Talia frowns, “If there’s anything we can do to help protect your people,” hesitating slightly to glance at Chey and myself, we both nod, “We’ll do it.” Bardo sighs, “Thank you. Taris is substantially more… hazardous than initial reports had suggested. The specifics aren’t common knowledge off-world, but…” Strom continues from there, “But we’re trying to rebuild a planet covered with toxic junk and diseased, carnivorous monsters and it ain’t working.” Bardo glances at him, narrowing his eyes, “Ahem. Governor Saresh has plans to alleviate some of these issues, but they require highly skilled individuals to carry out, individuals like yourselves.” I answer, slightly smiling, glancing at Jorgan in the corner of my eye, “We’ll be glad to pitch in.” _maybe helping others will cheer him up._ T7 chirps an affirmative behind Tali. “Terrific!” Bardo exclaims, “The governor will want to go over the plans with you in detail—I’ll let her know to expect you right away. Good luck.” Strom nods, “Your help will make a big difference to the people here. Thanks.” We all nod before continuing to make our way out of the spaceport, hearing “Welcome to Taris,” from a hologram of a green Twi’leki woman, “I’m Governor Saresh.” Now curious we stop in front of it, wondering just what Saresh will say. “On behalf of the Galactic Republic,” Saresh continues, “I want to thank you for joining us in this historic project. For your safety, please do not travel beyond the military-secured safe zone outside the settlement. This world and our work here will shine as a beacon of hope to all the Republic. But first, we have many obstacles to overcome. Together, we stand taller than any obstacle. Let’s get to work—together.” Beside Chey, Kira whistles, whispering “Wow, she likes to hear herself talk, doesn’t she?” The smuggler chuckles, “Glad you said that and not me.” Tali and I both roll our eyes at them as we head outside, hearing a rather loud argument between a Human trooper and two others, a large man and a petite woman. The man seems to be the only one arguing.

“We’ve been waiting weeks! And those things are still swarming our property while you, sorry excuses for defenders of the Republic, sunning yourself on the base,” we hear the man exclaim, pointing and glaring at the trooper. I growl, _how dare he!_ before marching over there. The others run to catch up as the trooper responds rather calmly, but clearly frustrated, “This is a military operation, sir. This planet hasn’t been cleared for civilian occupancy.” The young woman responds just as calmly, trying to soothe feathers, “My brother didn’t mean to be insulting,” ending with a glare when her brother opens his mouth to retort, “But for three centuries, our family has dreamt of reclaiming our place on Taris. And now to be stopped by those things…” She cuts off as we approach, and Tali asks, “What’s this all about?” The trooper glances at us, “Their old estate’s off base, so we got no way to secure it.” The woman’s brother scoffs, slightly glaring at the trooper, sounding more like a spoiled brat who’s never heard no, “Taris is our home. We’re not going to wait until the army takes its pick of the planet and throws us the scraps!” I growl again as his sister continues, “The Republic validated our records. But some outlaws set up a camp there—they’ve got security droids all around the perimeter.” Tali frowns glancing at the trooper, who’s frowning too, “From what I’ve heard it is dangerous outside the base. If you go out there, there’s no guarantee that the Republic can help you,” she raises her hand when the spoiled—when the man opens his mouth, “If you really must return to your estate, insulting the men who will help you, is not a smart way to go. They have a much bigger task ahead of them than making sure a single estate is cleared but we’ll see what we can do to help.” The man frowns as his sister smiles, “Thank you. We will be in your debt,” as the trooper sends us the coords to the Poh estate. Chey and I can tell that Tali is about to object, so after a quick glance, we force her to walk away. “We’ll meet up with you at the office,” Chey states before she and Corso enter a warehouse farther up the road. Tali and I both frown, before shaking our heads and heading towards Saresh’s office that’s next to Colonel Gaff’s HQ. We continue on as the Jedi and astromech stop in front of a tent. I can nearly feel the tension in the room as Jorgan and I enter HQ. the man himself is as irritated as Jorgan, but without the excuse. “Well, well. General Garza graces us with her finest,” he begins. I force myself to salute, not liking the man already.  _Oh, please let this not take long…_

  “At ease—I’m Colonel Gaff, and these,” the older man stops, motioning to the two men flanking him, “are my senior officers. Your CO sent orders to do whatever is necessary to support your mission. Of course,” I glance away to see a young blonde Human woman listening in discreetly. Not that she needs to, I’m sure the whole HQ can hear Gaff as he continues, “She didn’t see fit to tell me what that mission is—care to enlighten me?”  _So that’s why he’s irate, Garza, same reason as Jorgan_ , I think as I glance at the scowling Cathar. “I’m sorry, Colonel. I can’t discuss the details,” I state with a slight frown.  _As if we knew any more than that._  Gaff scoffs, throwing his hands in the air, “Typical. Forget the reconstruction of Taris—I’ve got to shift everything around and help with some ‘top-secret mission’ nonsense!”  _Honestly, I’m beginning to feel sorry for the man…_  however, that thought ends when he continues, “Whatever Garza has you looking for, you won’t find it on Taris. Nothing unusual has happened since I took command.” That’s when the blonde walks over, a sergeant, though she surprises me when she speaks, “Patrol teams three, five and eight. All lost, all without explanation.” The colonel nearly growls, “Sergeant Dorne, I don’t recall giving you permission to speak.” I glance between the two, slightly taken aback by the malice in Gaff’s tone. Dorne replies calmly, “I wasn’t speaking to you, sir—I was speaking to Lieutenant Tae, per General Garza’s instructions. Are you ordering me to violate Code 73-B and ignore the general’s directive, Colonel?” My eyes widen at how she’s addressing her CO, even more, surprised by Gaff’s as he rolls his eyes, “Always got a regulation to quote, don’t you, Sergeant Dorne?” Behind me, Jorgan mutters, loud enough for the others to hear, “We came here for Intel, not arguments, people.” I stifle a chuckle, that nearly turns into a growl when Gaff scoffs crossing his arms, “And I already told you, there’s nothing to find here. Taris is dangerous—casualties are common on patrol teams. It’s unfortunate, but not unusual, no matter what Sergeant Dorne says,” glaring at Dorne, “Now if you’ll excuse me, I’ve got a planet to run. Carry on with your ‘secret mission’—just don’t muck up anything important,” and with that the new Mr. Grumpy walks away with his two senior officers flanking him. Dorne sighs when he disappears, “Apologies for the colonel, Lieutenant. Not all men are meant to lead.” I chuckle, deciding I like this woman, “You can say that again,” glancing at Jorgan, who stiffens and glares at me. I smirk, “Colonel Gaff is disobeying a direct order.” The sergeant nods grimly, “I can assure you, it’s not the first time he’s done so. I’m Elara Dorne, sir. Sergeant, first class, commander of Search and Rescue Squad 204. We have three full squads, all MIA on patrols. The situation is critical.” I frown, somewhat awed by her formality, “Do you have any idea what happened to these men?” She looks down, shaking her head, “I’m afraid not, Lieutenant. Casualties are common on swamp patrols. Rakghoul attacks account for the majority—approximately eighty-seven percent. However, SAR sweeps discovered no evidence of Rakghoul activity in these instances—someone else attacked those teams. If you’re looking for unusual activity, then this is it, sir.” I swallow, “What exactly is a ‘rakghoul,’ anyway?” Dorne grimaces, “Rakghouls are disease-carrying mutants. Rakghoul bites and scratches are infectious. Those infected become Rakghouls themselves in six to forty-eight hours. I included the last known coordinates for the MIA patrols in my official incident report, Lieutenant. I’ll load it onto your datapad for your review. Taris falls under unexplored/unsecured territory protocols—all armor-cams transmit to SAR Command. I’ll contact you with developments.” I nod, “Sounds like a plan, Sergeant.” Dorne smiles slightly, “Good luck, Lieutenant.” Both Jorgan’s eyes and mine own follow her as she disappears. Jorgan muttering, softly this time as we exit HQ, “That was… interesting. I’ve had drill instructors more relaxed than that woman. Not to mention that accent.” I frown slightly, glancing over at him as we walk, “What do you mean? What’s unusual about her accent?” as I wasn’t really paying attention to that bit…

  “The only people I’ve heard talk like that were Imperials,” Jorgan states, his voice low as not to be overheard, “The Republic must have freed her homeworld in the war—growing up Imp would explain a lot about her personality.” I frown, “I’d say the Republic could use more officers like Dorne.” Jorgan scoffs, “And I’d say there’s better uses for a soldier’s time than memorizing every single regulation in the books…” he stops seeing the others walking towards us and the Governor’s office, “Guess it’s off to work then. I’ll watch our backs,” I nod, and we fall silent, entering with the smugglers and Jedi. I nearly groan, hearing yet another argument, “… I’m sure it would work if we had the manpower, but we don’t. The numbers just aren’t on our side,” we hear a man say as we enter, followed by a scoff as Saresh answers, sounding every bit like her holo in the spaceport, “Success isn’t in the numbers, Chief. We don’t need more people—we need the right people,” finishing as her lavender eyes fall onto us. I hear Talia swallow, “Excuse us but we were told to speak with Governor Saresh.” She smiles, “Bardo and Strom found you after all, good. Thank you for coming, I’m Governor Saresh. And this here is my unbelieving Chief of Operations Orsen Trig. Our goal on Taris is straightforward: rebuild everything the Sith destroyed and remind the galaxy that the Republic never gives up. But resources are tight, and we have some serious challenges: toxic chemical spills, scavenging pirates and…the wildlife.” It’s then that Orsen Trig stands to address us, “Rakghouls—one bad bite can turn you into a vicious monster just like them. There’s thousands out there… maybe even millions.” My curiosity grows as I ask, “Where do these creatures come from? How did they get here?” Trig answers, “No one’s totally sure. They were here before the Sith bombardment, and their numbers have only grown since then.” Saresh nods, “The Rakghouls use tunnels buried in the ruins to attack by surprise and overwhelm our soldiers. Every work crew we send out is decimated. We came here to achieve the greatest reconstruction project in Republic history. Instead the workers hide in this outpost like frightened children. No more.” Chey is the next to speak, asking, “What can we do to push these creatures back and keep your workers safe?” Saresh smiles slightly, “We need to level the playing field, so our security forces can do their job. Chief Trig has put together a plan…” Trig interrupts, “…A suicidal plan…” She glares at him, “…A bold plan to collapse the tunnels the Rakghouls are using to ambush our people. I know all of you are up for the task.” Trig sighs before walking over to a side table where there’s a holographic map, “Old ventilation shafts still connect a few hubs in the tunnel network to the surface. Drop explosives in enough of them, and the whole thing collapses.” I glance at the plans, “Havoc is at your command.” The Jedi share a glance as both nod, “A Jedi is prepared to face any danger, Governor.” Saresh grins when Chey nods as well, “Excellent, you each have a reputation for overcoming impossible odds. Live up to that reputation. Help us transform Taris into the future of the Republic,” she then walks back behind her desk. We take that as our dismissal, the others bow as Jorgan and I salute before leaving. As we exit, we’re all surprised with the three speeders waiting for us, guarded by the trooper from earlier with the Pohs. He salutes sharply, “Master Jedi, Lieutenant Tae, Captain Tán. Your droids thought these speeders would help you complete your missions faster, I told them I’d deliver them to you.”

            “Thank you…” I state as the man snaps another salute, “Private Sakal, sir, ma’am, sir…” I laugh at that, “Ma’am is fine, Private. Has things always been like what we saw earlier?” Sakal nods, “Yes, ma’am. The others and I want to help but there’s nothing we can do and there’s too many refugees here to help them all.” Talia frowns, “I’m sorry, Sakal. We’ll try to help as best we can. Take some of the pressure off you and the others.” Sakal grins slightly, “You already are, master Jedi,” and with that, he salutes once last time before walking away, and we each enter our own speeders stopping by the tent the Jedi had stopped at earlier to pick up a datapad before continuing out of Olaris and into the resettlement zone. Thankfully, most of our tasks from the Poh’s estate to the refugee’s settlement to Saresh’s task to our own assignments are relatively close to each other, though the location for the MIA patrols is a bit more scattered. The others follow us as we head to Patrol team 3’s last location. Once we reach it Jorgan and I separate from the others. I frown when the only thing I can find is a case of what seems to be power converters. Which is odd, and I holo Dorne who seems just as confused, “Those are power converters, Lieutenant. Old ones. Any theories on how they got to that location?” I frown slightly, tilting my head, “The people who attacked our patrols may have dropped them.” Dorne nods, “Possible. None of the other patrols logged similar discoveries. Power converters come from ignition systems, engine parts. It takes work to remove them. Someone dropped those converters—either the patrol or their attackers. We need more information to determine which.” I nod, understandingly, “I’ll search the next coordinates immediately.” Dorne smiles faintly, “I’ll remain in contact, Lieutenant. Dorne out.” With that, we rejoin the others and continue to an old settlement where we gather items from a list on the datapad we picked up and deal with scavengers. And I begin to wonder why the scavengers haven’t taken the power converters. _Do they not need them? Or do they not know about them? Both seem unlikely as they could just sell them._  But I shake it off as we gather the items, loading them into a speeder trailer that T7-01 places behind their speeder. Once that is complete, we head over the Poh’s estate where we see the reason they can’t enter, security droids… dozens of them patrolling the small property. We all share a look before trying to find the easiest path to the building, knowing that the droids will be useful to the Poh siblings. What we find inside is saddening, dozens of aliens. The three force-sensitives glances at each other, no doubt feeling the emotions of the people. I quickly gather that they’re refugees, from what I’m not certain as a tall female Togruta approaches us, “Hold,” she states simply, “We have no more with which to defend ourselves. You left us helpless before the Rakghouls and everything that haunts this planet.” Tali shakes her head, lowering the hood of her robes, “We didn’t remove them all.” The Togruta’s eyes widen slightly, her eyes running over Tali’s headband, another language engraved in it as she says, “Is that so, Alema Tann? I am Achitan, and my people are refugees, survivors of the battle on Coruscant. Would you turn us out of yet another home?” Tali shakes her head, “That was not our plan. We didn’t know you were even here,” finishing just as Corso says, “The owners have been waiting centuries to return here.”

“So many men are here to reclaim this planet who know nothing of its past,” the Togruta states, scoffing slightly, “Ancient Taris was a blight on the Republic, the black mark on its reputation for freedom.” The sisters grimace, and I frown wondering if I know what she’s talking about. Corso frowns too, “As far as I know, it was some Outer Rim nothing until the Empire blew it up.” She chuckles, darkly, “Your friends are not so in the dark as you. Which we can be thankful for as everyone else it seems is ignorant. Humans on Taris did as they do on all planets. They seized the surface, claimed Taris’ wealth and forced every other species underground. Every meter of this land owned by a human was probably seized from another species, just as this was seized from my ancestors,” Corso scoffs standing by his captain’s side, who glares at him as Achitan continues taking something from one of her refugees, “I have their documents, so old they were kept in printed form. Read them yourself if you doubt me.” Tali shakes her head, gingerly taking the documents, “I know the history and trust your story.” As she finishes, Kira glances at it, her eyes widening at the fragility of the documents asking, “What happened? There must have been a reason.” Achitan chuckles darkly, “It was about money, of course. A human governor cut taxes to favor his people, and when others rebelled, they were the ones punished. I think the claim was ‘aliens are dangerous to Tarisian trade.’ If you have any sympathy for our cause, perhaps there is something you can do? We are alone and at the Republic’s mercy.” Tali glances at each member of our group before shaking her head, “We would not wish to see you turned away from your home again.” Achitan smiles, “I thank you for softening your heart to my story. We will begin the repairs to our droids and program them not to attack you.” With that, we turn and walk out of the estate, where we separate with a nod. Jorgan and I go to Patrol Team 5’s last position, finding nothing but another case of power converters. I holo Dorne, who frowns upon appearing, “More power converters. According to the logs, this patrol followed an entirely different route. Either both patrols recovered the same engine parts from separate locations, or the converters were dropped in both areas by one group: the attackers.” I nod, frowning too, wondering what’s going on, “I think we’re on the right track, Sergeant.” Dorne glances at a datapad, “A specialist MO-7 science officer could examine the converters to determine their source. We have such an officer on staff. I will notify him while you search the last coordinates.” I nod, “Sounds like a plan, Sergeant.” She grins momentarily, “Very well, Lieutenant. I’ll proceed to science division at once. Good luck, Lieutenant,” ending with a salute.

  Jorgan and I return to where our group split up, seeing Corso and Cheyanne already waiting and we wait for the Jedi. Eventually, they join us and we all go deeper into the resettlement zone where Chey has tasks apparently, and Patrol Team 8’s last known location is. The Jedi continue with the smugglers as we separate. Hairs begin standing on the back of my neck as we near the location, alerting me that danger is nearby. Jorgan and I share a look, his ears twitching just as a blaster bolt comes between us. Jorgan curses, already using his sniper rifle to search for our attackers as more fire comes in. I fire my blaster rifle rapidly, removing those on my side, as Jorgan and I are practically back to back, as he takes care of the other. When the last bolt hits a piece of debris, Jorgan and I rise from our kneeling position walking towards one of the bodies. I nearly laugh when my holo rings, and I pick up seeing a nearly frantic Dorne, “Lieutenant! Status report—are you injured?” I glance at Jorgan who shakes his head, “Everything is fully operational.” She sighs, “Good. There’s much to do. Your attackers were scavengers. Threat assessment reports classify them as a non-combatant group. That classification is clearly inaccurate,” glancing at the body at my feet, “I’ll notify command.” I glance at it too, “I need to know where these scavengers come from, their numbers and armaments.” Elara frowns, “Unknown, sir. Local intelligence felt they weren’t worthy of investigation. Armed hostility against Republic personnel clearly justifies an immediate armed response, Lieutenant. It’s your call.” I glance at Jorgan before saying, “We need to move against these scavengers immediately.” Dorne glances down at something, “Orbital scan has just managed to pinpoint the location of the scavengers’ compound. I’ll scramble up my team and prep them immediately. We’ll effect entry to the compound once you’ve created an opening.” I smirk slightly, “I’ll see you on the other side, Sergeant.” Ghost of a smile graces Dorne’s face, “Good luck, Lieutenant. Sergeant Dorne out.” We rejoin the others, and we finally head to do Saresh’s task. Rakghouls spill out of the ventilation shafts once we’ve thrown the explosives, the Jedi trying their best to never let them near any of us. Once we’ve thrown three explosives into the tunnels, we hear a bloodcurdling roar. The ground shakes as whatever it is, runs towards us and we ready ourselves. We see it before we smell it, a massive Rakghoul the size of a small fighter, we share a nervous glance before the Jedi ignite their sabers and charge it. The others are successfully removing the beasts’ attention after they land a crippling blow, protecting them from any attack of the Rakghoul’s. After a tiring long fight, it finally falls nearly crushing the Jedi underneath its body. Thankfully they make it out unscathed, we make our way back to Olaris, with a short pitstop for Cheyanne. The Poh siblings find us first as we enter, with Private Sakal standing nearby. “Excellent job! We could smell the smoking metal corpses from here—” the brother states as he sees us approach. “I told him that’s not really possible—” his sister says interrupting him and earning herself a glare from her brother.

“So, who are the crooks who set themselves up on our property?” the brother says, interrupting his sister, “Did you drive them off?” Talia looks exasperated, “No. Not exactly. Look at these papers. The aliens there have as good a claim as yours.” She hands the papers gently to the sister who seems to be more supportive of sharing. Her eyes widen as her brother scoffs, “The ‘alien resettlement’ was a valid executive order approved by the Republic. This is our land.” His sister glares at him, a tear in her eye, “There are alien survivors who kept their claim? I’d thought they would never want to come back here. I—I studied the history. It wasn’t right.” Her brother scoffs, “It was justified! You can’t make us leave because of that.” Tali frowns, “It’ll take more than two people to turn this place civilized.” The sister nods, “I agree, Relus. This isn’t our ancestors’ estate. This is a frontier. We’ll need to grow food, sew clothes, defend ourselves. Wouldn’t it be better to all with these aliens?” Relus’ eyes widen, “Sew clothes?! Hmm… maybe we should just hear them out, see what they’re looking for.” His sister sighs gratefully, “We won’t turn them away. I know what it’s like to want a home,” with that Relus turns to walk away and his sister turns her attention to us, “Thank you, master Jedi. Relus might not say it, but my brother and I are grateful.” Her eyes widen once she realizes she never introduced herself, “I’m Jaymizu Poh. I can’t believe I forgot that. Thank you,” before she hurries to follow her brother who called for her. Private Sakal’s eyes follow them, “Hey, good job. Both on the droids and getting to the bottom of that mess. Taris politics, huh? Brass called me when you left. Wanted to see if your work’s as good as your rep.” I frown, wondering what else is going wrong, “Is there more to be done?” Private Sakal chuckles, “Well, I doubt he’s asking you over for a cup of mudleaf tea. Captain Childress calls, it usually means something needs fixing. If you’ll interested in helping, go look him up. His office is at Aurek HQ, other side of the base. Tell him, you’re the ones who ran off the brat brigade.”

            “Leisha! Vidas!” a young girl exclaims as we walk towards the refugee tents, “Everyone, they’re back!” A large group quickly walks toward us, as one of the men asks, “Is everything okay? What did the scavengers take?” The girl glares at him as T7 and the Jedi's speeder stops behind us, the trailer in tow. Everyone quickly clamors forcing the girl to yell, “Okay, calm down, people! Let’s deal with the possession first so those who want to can leave. One at a time,” as everyone races to the trailer. Chey, Kira, Tali, and I pass out the items as Corso, Jorgan, and T7 try to calm and organize the people. Five refugees are last, and we each hand them their items as Tali says, “Hopefully, this will help you all start over.” The older woman, Leisha Vamden, nods, “We can only hope. Now… what do we have?” The older man, Semist Bada, says, “This is fabulous. Not a page lost.” Another man, Vidas Kawats, says “Yeah. I can’t wait to turn this on.” The young woman, “I have to show these to my mother. She’s been so worried… be right back!” then rushes inside the tent. “I think what she meant to say was ‘thank you,’ but,” Leisha states, amusement coloring her voice, “She’s a little giddy. Don’t worry. None of us will forget your generosity.” Tali chuckles, “It’s completely understandable. Good luck.” They each nod and walk back inside the tent as the girl comes back out, running and hugging the Jedi Knight then everyone else, “Thank you so much. The light in Mother’s eyes came back when she saw the Nadu seeds. What can we do to thank you?!” Tali chuckles shaking her head, “Nothing. Well, there is something. Live happily.” The group nods before Chey says, “And keep in contact with us.” The girl’s eyes widen, “Really?! That’s all?! You don’t want credits?” Everyone shakes their head, “We don’t do this for credits…” Chey responds, earning a glance from Corso. The girl hugs each of us once more, “Thank you. We were all about to give up hope. It means a lot to have someone care about us, to do something for us. I’m Urana Kiel by the way, Mother will be furious to know I’ve forgotten my manners,” looking down at T7 who spins after giving her our information. We chuckle as we walk away heading to Saresh’s office before going to speak to Captain Childress in Waypoint Station Aurek.

We walk in on another conversation, this one more of an argument, “…I don’t care what your plan is! We’re not sticking around to get eaten alive. Me and my crew are leaving—period.” We hear Saresh scoff, “If you want to abandon the work your agreed to do for the Republic, I can’t stop you. But you are not leaving. A six-month quarantine requirement has been put into effect. Anyone trying to leave without prior authorization is subject. You can sit in a medical bay and go broke, or you can help us accomplish something unprecedented. It’s your choice.” I frown, Saresh sounding like a dictator than a governor, “You shouldn’t be so harsh, Governor. These men aren’t fighters.” Saresh glances at us, “We are what we choose to be. I know you’re going to make the right decision here, Hull. Come back when you do,” standing from her desk at the end. The tall Zabrak, Hull, shrugs causing Saresh to cross her arm and look at him pointedly. He sighs and turns to walk away, Saresh’s eyes following him, “Unfortunately, not everyone flourishes in the face of adversity. Scouting parties are already reporting lower Rakghoul populations. Most of our work crew are gearing up—we’re finally gonna get this project moving.” Chey frowns, “There are still a lot of Rakghouls and wreckage out there.” Saresh chuckles, as she sits at her desk, “Obstacles exist to be overcome. My ancestors called Taris home, once. Thanks to you, millions of people might call it home again someday. Stay safe. And stay in touch.” We all nod, saluting before we exit, and we begin heading to the sinking city, where Waypoint Station Aurek is located. We’re greeted immediately by a large heavy-set man, “Hey, there. Captain Childress. I want to thank you for taking the time to see me. You all did nice work on the land claim mess. Like we flew this many troops to the armpit of the galaxy, so some kids could play pioneer. It’ll take way more than it’s worth to make this planet livable. Only thing interesting about Taris is that it’s the worst failure the Republic’s ever had.” Corso frowns, “I don’t know much about Taris history.” Childress chuckles, “Doesn’t surprise me. Way back when, the Sith were searching for a Jedi here. When they couldn’t find her, they tried destroying the entire planet. The Jedi escaped, but millions of people died an ugly flaming death. The Empire tried the same thing on Coruscant in the last war. Three hundred years after Taris, we still don’t know squat about how to defend against a bombardment once ships are in low orbit.” The others nod as I say, “Until we learn to defend ourselves, we’re at the Empire’s mercy.”

“That’s why I’m here,” Childress states with a nod, “Learn what we can so we don’t repeat the mistakes. I sent commandos to defend a research team at the crash site of the _ Endar Spire,_” I watch the sisters’ eyes widen as he continues, “The last Republic warship shot down over the planet. If we’re lucky, that ship recorded the whole bombardment. But my team’s lost contact… which means there are desk jockeys in the wild with the most valuable data on Taris.” Corso is once more the one who asks, “What’s this ship? Why’s it so valuable?” Chey glances at her sister rolling her eyes as Childress answers, “There were Jedi aboard, back in the day. Now, we hope it’s got data on the attackers. The crash site’s out a ways, fast as you make it—I don’t know if we’ve got survivors. Research team’s your number two priority. Data’s the most important thing. Take anything the _ Endar Spire r_ecorded to Commander Viqui here at the outpost,” pointing above him to HQ. We nod then leave Havoc saluting him as we do. The group parts as Cheyanne and Corso leave to speak to someone, Jorgan and I stay with the Jedi selling things and restocking our supplies. When we regroup it’s near the medical tent, where we overhear a conversation of a Doctor it seems and a group of five individuals. “As you can see by the data,” the Doctor states as the group looks at a holo screen and their own datapads, “there is no disease in known space that propagates as quickly as the Tarisian Rakghoul plague. Even one individual Rakghoul can start a pandemic, as we have observed in eighty-one colonies to date. Until a vaccine can be widely distributed, it is highly doubtful that any civilian colonization effort will yield lasting results. Thank you,” with that the group walks away talking amongst themselves and the Doctor turns to us as we’ve stopped a short distance from her and the dispersing group. “I didn’t know Rakghouls had gotten so many colonies,” Tali states as she approaches. “Rakghouls have been the story on Taris for three centuries. HoloNet archives say a Doctor Forn developed a ‘Rakghoul serum’ vaccine just hours before the bombardment. I’m Doctor Ianna Cel and I’ve been trying to acquire this serum, but short of putting a blaster to someone’s head, that’s not going to happen.” I frown, “What makes you say that?” She chuckles darkly, “There’s a pirate camp not far from here. They went after the ruins of Sepanik Memorial Hospital. Sepanik was well preserved. If there’s Rakghoul serum to be found, it’d be there. I asked Commander Viqui to step in, but since it wasn’t a Republic hospital, the pirates have legal salvage rights.” Tali frowns, “What is legal and what is right are often different. I’ll pay them a visit.” Her eyes widen, “That’s… that’s extremely brave of you! The Death’s Claw pirate gang robs anything that talks and shoots anything that doesn’t. I can’t say what will be required to get this done, but this plague has infected half a planet’s worth of people. So, if that serum shows up on my lab table, it’d be unethical to throw it away for any reason. I hope my position is clear,” we nod as the dispersed group walks back to her. We follow the Jedi as they mess with tracking relays that are nearby the crashed  _Endar  Spire_. Once they mess with a second relay, we enter the  _Spire_  herself, remarkably well preserved given her age and the bombardment. There are scavengers inside, no doubt the ones who attacked the research team. Once we clear out the first floor, we’re surprised to see someone walk towards us, a male Human Republic trooper.

“Lieutenant Karlsu,” he states saluting before groaning and holding his side, “I’m all that’s left of Commander Childress’ fifth detail. Please tell me you’re our reinforcements.” We all share a look, before I step up, “Childress sent us. What cut you off?” He raises his hand, “Give me a moment.” We nod, and he turns looking back to where he emerged from, “All’s clear, guys. And we’ve got some muscle from back at base.” Three people emerge from separate hiding places, two male Humans and a female Rodian and he continues speaking to us, “This is what’s left of our research team. The others got ambushed while working. Scavengers must have guessed we were after something good. We need to hold them off long enough for the research team to recover and download that data.” The Rodian woman nods, “You’ll need to reactivate the generator subsystems as we go, so we can grab the data when we hit the main computer. We’ll follow you.” Kira chuckles, “Now you’ll get to see how Jedi and Havoc handles things.” Karlsu’s eyes widen, as he turns to address the team, “Okay. Data’s priority one. Everyone into the ship. Go!” We turn and go ahead of them, fighting the scavengers as we go with T7 reactivating the generators. Cheyanne and Corso are at the rear, protecting both our flank and the teams as we carve a path to the main computer. We run all the way to the room that’s empty, until we’re at the computer and several scavengers repel from the ceiling blocking our only exit. They come in waves, three total, their leader partaking in the last. As we fight, the three researchers are hard at work, the Jedi protecting them from any spare bolts. “If you hadn’t come when you did, those would be our smoking corpses there,” Karlsu states once the leader falls, “No question. Unfortunately, we’re not done, not until this wreck’s data is in the hands of Commander Viqui.” I glance at the others before saying, “Give me what you have, I’ll get it to the commander.” Karlsu grins, “Thank you. We’ve recovered all the high-priority info. If you’ll run that to the outpost, I’ll hold off what’s left of the scavengers until our reinforcements arrive.” The female Rodian nods, “Thank you for protecting us. And good luck.” The others chuckle as Jorgan, Karlsu, and I salute one another before we leave, now heading to the Death’s Claw pirates’ headquarters nearby.

 We easily spot it as there are pirates protecting it, immediately shooting at us as we come into their view. Apparently, Death’s Claw pirates don’t defend well against two Jedi, two Republic troopers, two smugglers and an astromech, as we easily slip inside the complex, removing all resistance, hoping this will help any rebuilding efforts. When we clear the complex, Cheyanne looting the bodies as we go, we make our way to the medbay where dozens of men lay groaning in agony. I wince, seeing ghastly scratches and bites the men’s bodies that are deathly pale. We skim thru the medicines lining the wall by the attending physician office, searching for the serum when we’re interrupted. “You picked the wrong medbay to rob, vac-brain! There’s gonna be two hundred Death’s Claw pirates coming through that door!” exclaiming an angry blue Twi’lek, pointing at the door we entered. “I was hoping we could resolve this peacefully,” Tali states, even though we cleaned out the complex. “Uh-uh. You see these guys lying here? They’ve got the Rakghoul plague. You touch me, and they’ll be on you like Hutts on a buffet. Except, you know… faster. And don’t think they’re incapacitated. They just look that way. I’ve got a serum you wouldn’t believe.” Cheyanne crosses her arms smirking slightly, “We’d heard you dug something up. We’re going to need it.” The doctor nods, “Yeah, we’ve been using it to… wait. No, you don’t. You can’t take it! These people are infected! If you cut off my supply of serum, these guys are going to turn. You know what that means? I’m going to have to shoot them all in the head before they try to eat my liver.” Tali and I both frown, “You’re a doctor, right? Synthesize some more.” The Doctor scoffs, “With what? My state-of-the-art facilities? I can only use what I find, and we don’t find much. The only place I can think of that might have some left is the ruins of Dynamet General. The place was basically ghoul town. You want serum, you get it there and leave us alone.” Tali sighs, and I know we’re up for another adventure, “We better not come to regret this.” The doctor shakes slightly, “No, the stuff is down there. I swear on my medical license. The real one,” with that he walks away. Chey groans, “Great more exploring,” when T7 chirps the coordinates of Dynamet General. I frown, when I hear it’s nowhere near our mission point and knowing we need to get a move on, “Jorgan and I need to continue deeper into the Sinking City ruins. You find the serum and we’ll meet you back at Waypoint Station Aurek.” Chey nods, “Same.” Tali frowns, not liking splitting up any more than I do, but she nods, “Just stay safe, okay?” I chuckle, glancing at Jorgan briefly, “We will, Tali. Chey’s got Corso and I’ve got a Dead-Eyes sniper watching my back.” Jorgan glances at me with that, I can feel it even as Tali smiles at him, “Good to know. Keep them safe,” staring at Corso, who swallows. Cheyanne rolls her eyes as we all enter our speeders, and we speed off. The Fallenspire Stronghold is quite deep into the territory of the sinking city, Dorne and the team aren’t there yet but Jorgan and I don’t wait for them, knowing SAR teams aren’t much for fighting. The facility itself is small, I notice once we exit the elevator, there isn’t even any guards watching the… the captured patrol teams. I walk near one of the containment shields, where one of the men rises from a chair. “You! You’re from the Republic!” the man, an ensign, exclaims, “Watch out! There’s a huge creature guarding us, and—” he freezes as the ground quakes and I hear a roar behind us. I nearly curse as the Ensign begins panicking, “Ah! There it is! Run for it!” Jorgan turns before I do, and we’re met with a very ugly sight; a large monstrous creature who’s arms and head is nearly as big as its body with tiny legs and large razor-sharp teeth, a Kintan Strider. Jorgan shoots its legs with his blaster, as I walk around it grabbing my own blaster shooting where its wrists are. The Strider roars in agony before charging haphazardly as it’s struggling to hold itself up, and I feel bad for the creature. But right now, it’s us and those held captive against it, so I try hard not to be remorseful when it falls lifeless to the floor. The captives cheer as I walk back to the ensign after disabling the field. He stares at us in awe, “Whoa! Who are you? You took that thing down easy!”

  “Lieutenant Tae, commanding officer of Havoc Squad,” I state, trying to be happy that we succeeded and are alive. The ensign’s eyes widen, “You’re kidding. They actually sent Havoc Squad after us!” I grimace internally,  _no, not exactly_ , as he continues, “I’m Ensign Tane, sir, ma’am… It’s a good thing you found us—the scavengers were going to ship us off to some guy named ‘Needles’ as soon as we healed up.” Jorgan and I glance at each other as he asks, “Needles? As in Ryler Dorant, the former Havoc medic?” Tane shrugs, “I really don’t know. ‘Needles’ is all they ever called the guy. I figure it must be a code name, right?” I nod, “’Needles’ is a code name.” Tane smiles slightly, “Guess you’ve heard of him, then. The scavengers also said—” Sadly Elara Dorne and her team enter at that precise moment, “Here they are! Cay, Goran—cover the exit. Vise, Marko, Tabber, see to these men’s wounds.” Tane groans, “Oh, great Sergeant Dorne’s here to make sure we got stomped according to regulation.” I frown as she approaches, asking calmly, “Report Ensign. Did you learn anything about the enemy?” Tane barely spares her a glance, not even saluting her, his tone both disrespectful and bored, “Uh, yes, sir, Sergeant, sir. As I was just telling the lieutenant here, we were captured for some guy named Needles.” He turns to me, “As I was saying, there are Imperials here, on Taris! They’re working with this Needles guy in a hidden base out in the swamps.” I frown, “I’m not surprised. These days, the Imps are everywhere.” I frown when Tane turns to Elara, “So, are you excited, Dorne? You’ll finally have the chance to correct your old buddies’ paperwork again!” I nearly growl, my respect for Elara growing as she just takes it but I can’t, “That attitude’s getting you nowhere fast.” Tane’s eyes widen as he faces me, swallowing, “Uh, yes, sir, Lieutenant. Sorry, sir.” Elara grimaces in sympathy for the ensign, but it disappears quickly, so quickly I begin to believe I imagined it. “Many of the local troops feel that my adherence to regulations is a result of my upbringing, Lieutenant. I was born Imperial. However, after two years’ service in the Imperial military, I defected. Given my extensive knowledge and training, I was awarded this position under Service Code 37-R.” My eyes widen with her admittance, the pride she has of her choice clear in her voice, “You made the right decision.” She smiles slightly, bowing her head in thanks, “We can discuss non-mission-critical issues later,” her thankfulness still in her eyes though, “My team and I will get these men back to base, Lieutenant. You proceed with your mission against Needles and his Imperial installation.” I nod, “I have the lead I was after. Time to act on it, however, I wish to speak to Ensign Tane first.” She nervously glances at the ensign, before nodding, “I am glad I could help point you in the right direction, sir. Good luck. Ensign, we’ll be waiting for you above,” Tane nods.

  “Sir?” Tane states, looking at me fearfully as the others leave. I nearly roll my eyes, “Ma’am works, Ensign. You are not in trouble so, relax. I just wanted you to know that without her,” I stare at him pointedly, wanting him to understand this “you would never have been found. Think about that before you act cruelly to her because of her heritage. Dismissed.” Tane’s eyes widen as he salutes, then hurries away. Jorgan chuckles, “I think you scared him, Tae.” I shrug, “I thought he should know. I dislike people treating others with disdain because of something they cannot control, makes us more like the Imperials,” I pause glancing over at him, seeing him frown, “Do you disagree?” He shakes his head, “I do not. But I do understand where they are coming from.” I scoff, “She was Imperial, now she’s not. In the end, she’s braver than we are. Both you and I know what either side does to ‘traitors’ when they’re caught. I just hope I can learn her story before we leave, to know her reason.” Jorgan stares at me, as we ascend up the elevator, “You’re really something you know that?” I chuckle, remembering my family saying something similar, “Oh, don’t I…” We fall silent as we enter our speeder, heading to the waypoint station. Surprising it doesn’t last long, as Jorgan breaks it, “You think Havoc will start shaping into an actual squad soon?” I glance at him briefly to see if he’s serious, “I’ll recruit more soldiers as soon as I find some Havoc-worthy candidates.” I see him nod in the corner of my eye, “Makes sense. Was thinking with how you’ve been standing up for Dorne you were thinking of her joining us…” I slightly smirk, liking that idea, “And what if I am, Jorgan. You have a problem with that?” He glances at me, scrutinizing my face, after a while he sighs, “No, ma’am. Though some might not like a former Imperial in the best squad there is.” I snort, “Well, they can get over it.” Jorgan chuckles, “You know once this squad starts growing people’s expectations of us—of you—are only going to get bigger. That CO post could get real heavy, real quick.” I frown slightly, wondering where this is coming from, “Someone needs to run Havoc Squad. Or are you offering to help me?” my eyes widen when I realize how that sounds.  _Smart… now I’m flirting with my subordinate… Jorgan at that._  I don’t look at him for his reaction, but I do hear him swallow as he chooses to ignore that last bit, “Commanding a squad is no cakewalk. Nothing worse than having to choose between the success of the mission and the lives of your men. That said, a leader can’t be soft on his troops. Coddling your men will only get them killed. But yes, as long as I’m in Havoc, I’ll do my best to help you.” My hands tighten on the wheel in my surprise, but I don’t dare to look at him, “You’ve got a point, I’ll keep it in mind.” I swear I see him smirk, “I’m sure you’ll do fine. You’ve gotten us this far.” When we get to Aurek, Corso has a faraway look in his eyes, and Cheyanne is leaning her head on his shoulder. My eyes flick between the two wondering what is going on. Chey sighs, mouthing ‘Memories,’ and I nod in understanding, “So, no sign of the others yet?” Chey shakes her head, nearly burying it in Corso’s shoulder, which draws him out of wherever he was. As Chey’s eyes widen, “You don’t think they got bit, do you?” I nearly sigh, shaking my head, “They’re Jedi.” That doesn’t stop her from rising and beginning to pace, this time I do sigh, pacing along with her. We stay like that, pacing in front of the main entrance until we hear an approaching speeder. Both Chey and I break into a run when Talia and Kira can barely exit the speeder.

  “You didn’t get scratched, did you?” Cheyanne exclaims. ‘// Talia + Kira = not injured // Fought many Rakghouls //’ T7 chirps as he launches himself out of the speeder, ‘// Turn in data and serum now? //’ spinning in a circle at the end, the Jedi chuckle. Doctor Lanna Cel sees us as we approach, raising a hand to excuse herself from the group. “Welcome back,” she states as she walks toward us, “Let’s get those serum samples analyzed and see what we’ve got,” pausing as Tali hands her the vials. She looks at them before putting them in an analyzer, “Well, thank the Force for good Tarisian storage technology. I wasn’t sure anything would still be viable after three centuries. While we wait… is there a cost to these samples I should be aware of? A deal with a pirate crew perhaps?” Tali shakes her head, “There was some unavoidable violence on the way in but this one is on the ghouls. We found it in Dynamet General.” Her eyes widen, “Seriously, wow. None of our recovery teams made it inside there to find it, I guess. Great work. Ah, here we are. Fortunately, the plague is so virulent, it cultures very rapidly. Hmm. Bad news. The serum you recovered looks like it was effective three hundred years ago, but the Rakghoul plague has mutated since then. This serum will only provide effective immunity for extraordinarily healthy individuals.” Chey sighs, “I’m sorry it didn’t happen as you hoped.” I however frown, not giving up hope just yet, “Is there a way to improve it?”

  “Oh, I’m not giving up,” Ianna states beginning to pace, “Now I just need what we call a ‘lucky survivor,’ whose system has made antibodies to the modern plague. We haven’t had a survivor yet, for obvious reasons. But this serum might provide the link we need. If I infected an extraordinary individual protected by the serum, I could collect the antibodies and make an effective vaccine.” I groan, “I’m troubled with the direction this is taking.” The sisters glance at me then at Ianna who smirks slightly, “It’s not going to be just anyone. I need someone with proven recuperative powers. Someone who gets injured almost on a daily basis. Ideally, they would have survived stabbings, shootings, poison, infections… maybe all of the above. Or, barring that, someone with conscious control over their bodily processes. Such as a Jedi…” Tali closes her eyes, “Doctor… I don’t get a chance to save a billion lives every day, I’m in...” Chey interrupts, “Hold up. Tali, are you sure this is a good idea?” glancing at her, “You’re tired from getting the darn serum!” Then she walks up to Ianna, “I’ll take it too. You need to be sure, right? More tes—more individuals the better…” I step to her side, not allowing them to go through this alone, “Me too.” Jorgan gawks at me, “Lieutenant Tae are you sure this is wise. We’re after…” I turn abruptly toward him, glaring, “I’m aware, Jorgan.” Corso is next to interrupt, “Captain…” is all he able to say before Chey does the same, “Don’t you even start, Corso!” Kira, however, is more supportive of her Master, as she sighs, “I’ll watch your back.” Tali nods as Ianna claps, “Well… and I had this whole speech ready… all right. We have a medical droid, CB-08-4, set up to observe Rakghouls in the field. He’ll be able to collect the antibodies and slow any complications. After I give you the serum, go out there and test it. Let the Rakghouls attack you, infect you, and see what happens.” Kira asks, “Are there any other medical facts we should know? How long can we wait before heading to CB-08-4? We have a time-sensitive mission.” Ianna frowns, “Normally I’d suggest right away, as any further injuries may have an effect on your healing capability. But it’s not my place to interfere with your business. The incubation period for the Rakghoul plague is normally six or more hours. Other than that, we know nothing. You’re doing the right thing. Now here’s your serum injection,” before she injects the three of us, “I hope the Force is with you because the science is stretched to the limit.”

            Surprisingly the injection site doesn’t hurt as we head up to HQ to turn in the data from the  _Endar  Spire_. We find Viqui pretty quickly as her back is to us and everyone is giving her a wide berth. She sighs as we approach, “If you have any questions about military operations on—” she stops as she turns around, “My pardon, Jedi. I’m actually expecting one of your Order,” then her eyes land on Jorgan and I’s badges, “Havoc Squad! You’re the ones who saved my team at the _ Endar Spire_!” Tali nods, “Everything from the primary computers is on here,” handing her the datachip her team gave us. “The data from the _ Endar Spire _will be invaluable to the Republic’s war efforts. Lieutenant Karlsu tells me there’s close surveillance footage of the Imperial warships.” Tali glances at Chey, Kira, and myself, “Our lives are dedicated to stopping the spread of the Sith.” Viqui nods, “As is mine. Thank you, each of you for your service. Republic intelligence has been waiting for this data since the bombardment fell.” With that, we’re dismissed, and we head off to a lightly populated area of Rakghouls. Chey, Tali and I tentatively head towards a couple of them, our weapons still securely in place as Corso and Jorgan have their blasters ready to shoot and kill the Rakghouls as soon as we each been scratched, Kira watching our backs. Thankfully not protecting ourselves works and we each get infected with a scratch. The Rakghouls, however, don’t have a victory as both get a hole through their heads. “Uh, I didn’t know the scratch would hurt so much,” Chey exclaims, holding her scratched arm. Jorgan’s eyes are constantly on me as we head back to the speeders, the three of us bandaging the wound before we head to the Brell Sediment where CB-08-4 awaits. We pass the outpost, only stopping once on the way to the sediment for Chey to talk to someone. She comes back, and we continue. Amazingly, we’re all heading to the same place, a large square collapsed building. We split up once inside, as normal, both the Jedi going with us deeper into the destroyed building, while the smugglers’ go somewhere else. We find the research bunker easily. Surprisingly, finding it rather empty and I start getting worried. Jorgan seems to share my unease as we walk to the database, where I begin the transfer. My ears flick hearing footsteps behind me, then an Imperial voice, “Looking for Needles, are you? I’m afraid he’s long gone, my friend.” I draw my blaster walking up to him, “Tell me where Needles went, and you might live.”

            “I’ll need more of a guarantee then that, I think,” the man states, raising his arms in surrender, “I’ll tell you everything you need to know about Needles. But in exchange, you have to let me go.” I nearly scoff, “You’re in no position to bargain.” He laughs, “No, I’m in no position to fight. I’m in an excellent position to bargain. I have information you need, it’s as straightforward as that. It’s simple. Let me live, and I will tell you everything. Kill me, and you’ll learn nothing.” It’s at that moment my comm beeps and I answer it, and Elara’s voice sounds panicked and strained, “Come in, Lieutenant. This is Sergeant Dorne. Do not trust this man—I served with him in the Empire. His name is Thorus.” The man’s, Thorus’, eyes widen, “What? Who is that, who are you talking to? Dorne? D—Dorne, is that you?” Intrigued, I move to the large holo terminal to holo her, and she continues, “Thorus is a mass murderer, Lieutenant. A war criminal.” I turn to glare at the man, “A mass murderer, huh?” Elara nods, “During my time in Imperial service, Thorus ordered the executions of hundreds of civilian non-combatants and full-scale bombings of unarmed populations. Furthermore, these actions were committed in circumvention of direct orders from Imperial Command.” Thorus swallows nervously, “I am a soldier! I—I do what I must to achieve my objectives! Just like you Lieutenant.” I nearly growl, pointing my blaster at him once more “I don’t kill civilians, you Imp scum.” He raises his hands like that’ll stop a bolt from killing him, “Please, listen! I’ll tell you everything, everything I know! Needles is doing experiments on the Rakghouls. He wants to understand their disease, t—to turn it into a weapon. H-he left here a few hours ago. He said he was visiting some ‘friends’ in the ruins of an old transport station, to get more samples.” I shake my head, holding my blaster a little lower, “I’m going to need a lot more detail here.” Thorus swallows, “R—rakghouls. He needs more t—to continue his research. He won’t say who his ‘friends’ are, but they supplied the Rakghouls,” now he begins to panic, “That—That’s everything. That’s all I know. I’ve given you what you wanted. Now, what about me?” I address Dorne while staring Thorus down, “You’d know better than I would, Sergeant. What should I do here?” Dorne clears her throat, “I respectfully suggest you discharge your weapon into Thorus’s skull, Lieutenant.” I slightly frown, not really wanting to kill an unarmed man, even if he’s a war criminal and a murderer. I glance at Jorgan who’s frowning at me, shaking his head minutely. As I don’t want to let the man free either, I come to a split-second decision, taking him in. “Sadly Dorne, I can’t make that decision only the Republic can…” I glance at Jorgan who’s behind the man now, “Jorgan, if you will.” He smirks momentary, before hitting the man over the head, causing him to fall unconscious. “That’s just, as well, Lieutenant,” Dorne states with eyes following Jorgan has he takes the prisoner to our speeder and stun cuffing him, “At least he’s no longer free. I only hope what he’s done gets out.” I nod, “It will if you testify against him.” Her eyes widen, “I didn’t think of that.” I chuckle, looking at her “And if anyone doubts you, I’ll vouch for you as he didn’t deny any of it.” She looks at me surprised, “Really, sir?! You’d do that for me?!” I nod, opening my mouth to say something but close it as a wave of dizziness and nausea hits me. I nearly double over as I hear footsteps coming from behind me, then everything fades to darkness but I’m very aware of the argument of the two Sergeants.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ==========================  
> 1-5 | Ord Mantell  
> 6-8 | Coruscant  
> 9 | Interlude  
> 10-11 | Taris  
> 12-… | Nar Shaddaa  
> ==========================  
> Hope ya'll enjoy it and sorry for any mistakes.  
> Positive feedback is greatly appreciated!


	11. Maniac Hunting

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Apologies ya'll, I got dragged into Loki fanfiction. :)  
> *Underlined words are 'translated' into Basic [English]*  
> *See notes at the end of the chapter to learn the meanings of the superscript words*  
> *Underlined and italicized words are ship names*  
> ~ Happy Reading! ~

=-=-=-=-=-=

            I’m immediately on alert when I open my eyes. Only calming when I recognize the white nylon ceiling of the medical tent. I try to rise only to groan, alerting someone nearby to my consciousness. That someone is Jorgan as his face appears above me, “Steady there, Lieutenant. You’ve been out for some time.” My eyes narrow when I hear a muffled groan followed by shuffling. I turn my head to the sound to see a tied up and gagged Thorus. Jorgan shuffles when I glare at him, “Why is he still here, Jorgan?” His green eyes flick to the captured Imperial, “When you lost consciousness three hours ago, I carried you to the speeder and brought you here. The others are here too, but I didn’t want to deliver him without knowing you’re fine.” I nearly growl, while feeling oddly touched by his apparent concern. _Though I’d be concerned too if my CO chose to become a guinea pig and may turn into a Rakghoul._ I shake my head, “Well, thank you, Jorgan. Could you please deliver him now?” He frowns, his eyes flicking back to our hostage, “He can wait till morning.” I close my eyes, breathing in deeply, not wanting to turn this into an argument, “I know. But you should check in, so HQ doesn’t get worried.” _Or Dorne for that matter…_ He sighs, “Will do, Lieutenant. But I’m not talking to Dorne about anything, just handing him over.” I nod, smiling slightly, “Thank you.” Jorgan’s silent as we see a little familiar astromech roll out of the tent. A medical droid enters a few minutes later with T7 in tow, the curtains dividing the three of us lifting. “Ah, good. You are all awake. I’ve taken samples from each of you as your infections has progressed. I have transmitted the data to Doctor Cel and have informed her of your consciousness. She will holo soon with your results. While we wait there are some questions I should ask. Do you have any of the following symptom’s: dizziness, fever, shortness of breath or an inexhaustible hunger for sentient flesh?” All three sentient beings practically scramble away from us, remembering the cause of this medical visit. “I could go for a nerf-burger,” Cheyanne teases, smirking slightly at Corso, before realizing that could be a problem, “That doesn’t count, right?” We chuckle as the droid shakes its head and the holo rings, “Ah, here’s Doctor Cel,” answering the holo.

            “Good news,” Doctor Ianna Cel begins once her image solidifies, “Your antibody counts are off the charts. I’ll start work on a vaccine immediately. You are remarkably brave. Our progress has just jumped forward by years. While you recuperate, and I mean by sleeping, I’m going to transmit the usual secrecy agreements. Just use your thumbprint to sign on the sensor.” I frown, wondering what agreement, glancing at the others who appear just as confused, so I simply ask, “We’re not exactly clear on what you’re talking about.” Ianna doesn’t seem to be worried, “This is standard procedure when the Republic develops biotech with significant earnings potential. We develop the vaccine for Republic soldiers first, and when it’s proven, sell it to colonists. Until then, it’s under wraps. We don’t want the Exchange or the Sith funding some horrible operation with an underground version.” Jorgan frowns, glancing at me as he addresses the doctor, “Lives will be lost while this profit is being made.” Cel snorts, “Tell me something I don’t know,” she states grimly, “Every week we hear another Rakghoul horror story. But every colonist on the planet is going to want this vaccine. How do I tell my superiors we gave up that kind of money?” I frown, irritated, “An entire planet succumbed to this plague. Are you a doctor or a patent office?” Ianna’s eyes narrow: “I’m a doctor. And this cure will get made, even if I have to build the manufacturing plant or hand-synthesize every macrophage…” with that she disappears. We all look mildly worried until CB-08-4, “Well, I think she’s angry. But from past experience, may I say that usually motivates her. If it means anything coming from a droid, ma’am, congratulations on your research and also, your remarkable survival. Your companions are welcome to stay in the medical tent until morning as you recuperate. I’ll check on you in the morning.” All three of us grumble before nodding, and the curtain separating us closes as Jorgan gathers our prisoner.

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

            When the sun rises, the hustle and bustle of the outpost wakes me. Jorgan and I join our fellow soldiers through their morning exercise. Though we refuse a change of clothes, their supplies already dwindling. Then we go hunting, knowing fresh meat will do us well. We gather together a small meal for pretty much everyone at the outpost. The outpost cook happily makes it, and slowly everyone gathers to eat. Some soldiers come personally to thank us, as they’re getting tired of the ration bars. Both Jorgan and I nod, knowing what it’s like to practically live off the stuff. But as nasty as it is, it keeps you going. The smell of food is what wakes the others as well as the Tarisian sun. All of us are silent as we eat and after as we each try to refresh ourselves, as there are no showers and limited water. Then we separate into our three groups, the Jedi and smugglers heading off in separate directions while we head back to Olaris. Jorgan insists on driving there, and I notice him glance at me. “I’m fine Jorgan,” I state as we enter the resettlement zone, “Cel cleared me, remember?” He glances at me, “I know. Just want to make sure you don’t have any other stupid ideas.” I huff, “It was not stupid.” He scoffs, “Could a fooled me. You could have died.” _Aw, he does cares_ , I glance at him as he continues, “Our mission would have failed. And what about Havoc and the traitors then, hmm? Stupid idea, Tae.” I sigh, _nope doesn’t care…_ “And here I thought you cared. Havoc would go to you as would our mission. I’d don’t like leaving things incomplete, Jorgan. Or are you telling me you would have been fine with leaving Cel like that, knowing she’d get someone else to do it?” Jorgan glances at me, his green eyes narrowing dangerously, “I’m not saying I would of. But it would’ve been different if I’d had done it.” I tilt my head, curious, “And why’s that? Because I’m a woman.” He nearly throws his hands skyward, “No. Just forget it.” I frown as he stays silent the entire trip, no matter how much questioning I do. I finally give up as we reach Olaris, silently walking to SAR command. Dorne finds us quickly, once we’re inside, “Thorus is in custody, Lieutenant. Thank you for letting justice be served. Let’s move on, shall we? Lab results confirmed Thorus’ account, Needles has almost completed a weaponized strain of Rakghoul disease. However, the data makes no mention of Needles’ ‘friends’ in the ruins of the transport system.” I grimace, “Can’t say I’m looking forward to meeting these people.” Beside me, Jorgan nods, “You said it. Dorant’s as creepy as they come.” Elara glances between us, “Available intelligence doesn’t show any populations in the ruins of the transport system, but scans of the area have been cursory at best. Rakghouls infest the area, making scouting by foot inordinately difficult. However, one traversable route has been located.” I frown but nod, “I’ll scout the area myself.” Dorne’s eyes widen but she nods, “Any geographical information you can bring back would be very helpful, Lieutenant. This ruined transport station is our only lead to Needles’ location. I would encourage you to stock up on supplies and munitions before securing the area.” Both Jorgan and I chuckle before nodding taking that as our dismissal. However, as we begin walking away, I hear Dorne call my name as she runs to catch up, “Hold on, Tae. Can I speak to you a moment?” Surprised, I glance at Jorgan, nodding for him to continue on his way, “What is it, Dorne?” She glances down, seemingly nervous, “My apologies for being forward but are you alright? When you collapsed and Jorgan brought Thorus in without you, I was concerned.” I chuckle, oddly glad that someone was actually worried, “I’m fine, Dorne. Thank you for asking, I was helping a doctor.” Her eyes widen, no doubt surprised I answered, “Ah, well I hope you’ve recovered. Good luck, Tae.” I chuckle, returning her salute before following Jorgan.

            As suggested, Jorgan and I stock up at the ship, as well as freshening up. Then we silently head on our way, our path meeting that of Talia and Cheyanne in the Tularan Marsh. We pull over to coordinate, learning that we’re all heading to the same place, the former Transport Station Five. We travel together, removing Rakghouls as we go. Inside the Transport station, we continue left with the Jedi as the smugglers go right. However, when we reach another large room, the Jedi break off as we continue straight. The number of Rakghouls increase dramatically as we go deeper into the ruins. Jorgan and I have to tie a piece of cloth over our mouth and nose as the stench starts becoming nearly unbearable. Finally, we find hear something helpful and worrisome, Needles. “…so, congratulations to you, Ensign Sarven, on your noble sacrifice.” I grimace as I hear another male voice, a very frightened one, who must be Sarven, “But, sir, I—wait, no, sir, no—I—aargh!” I flinch when an anguished scream pierces the air, making both our ears flatten to block the painful ringing sound. Needles sounds nearly in awe of whatever torture he’s surely done, “Ah. Exquisite. I will be requiring more Rakghouls for my work, Vorzoth.” I glance at Jorgan hearing the other name, who shrugs. Our question gets answered when we hear a gravely bone-chilling voice, “We already gave you the Rakghouls you asked for. When will you do as we asked?” Needles responds as we enter the room seeing both him and a large orange-red Rakghoul, “As soon as the weapon is completed. With it, we will decimate the Republic outpost.” I nearly growl as the Rakghoul sniffs the air, “I smell an intruder!” _Great, they’re intelligent now…_ Needles’ eyes land on me almost immediately, “So, you do. Sergeant Tae is that really you?” My eyes narrow, tempted to just fire my raised blaster, but I owe it to Karden, “I’ve moved up in the world since you last saw me.” Needles eyes flick to my rank, “So I see. You’ve slaughtered enough Republic enemies to be rewarded, then. Well done. I see you aren’t alone—you’ve brought that pathetic worm all the way from Ord Mantell, just to die along with you.” Jorgan growls, rising his sniper rifle to be perfectly aimed at Needles’ head, “Talk all you want, Dorant. You’re not getting out of here alive.”

            “Your timing is impeccable,” Dorant states, completely ignoring Jorgan’s statement, “Just as I find myself with plenty of pathogen but no more test subjects, you arrive. The transformation will hurt at first, but that’s merely your organs rupturing and realigning. It’s all over quickly, I assure you.” My eyes flick to another Rakghoul next to the doctor, who must have been Sarven. I grimace in sympathy, for that must have been agonizing, “It’s nice of you to offer, but I think I’ll pass.” Needles sighs, “Struggle if you must then. But you’ll wish you hadn’t made it so hard on yourself. Vorzoth, please assist me in subduing our newest volunteers.” The orange-red Rakghoul faces us, “With pleasure.” I shiver uncomfortably, glancing at Dorant, “I’m going to enjoy taking you down.” Vorzoth makes a strange noise, apparently calling more Rakghouls, “Take them.” Needles’ fight doesn’t take long as Jorgan takes his shot before the crazed doctor can make a move, then we have to deal with the Rakghouls. After the firefight, that nearly depleted our supply of munitions, Jorgan and I glance around the lab. “Well,” Jorgan states, “It looks like Needles’ weaponized Rakghoul disease has been duly scraped.” I walk to his side, grimacing seeing shattered vials and console sparking, “Well, at least we don’t have to worry about anyone using it.” Jorgan chuckles, darkly, glancing at the fallen, “Hopefully Garza didn’t want a sample. How many do you think were our boys?” I quickly glance away from them, “I don’t want to even think about it.” I feel him glance at me, “Yeah, let’s get back to base. I’ve had about all of the fun I can take,” I nod mutely. Then Jorgan and I silently make our way back, thankfully not running into any of the others. Jorgan’s eyes hardly leave me as I drive us to Olaris. SAR command is still practically empty when we enter, so we find Dorne easily at her console. She rises as we approach, saluting, “Welcome back, Lieutenant, Sergeant. Congratulations on the success of your mission.” I chuckle, returning her salute, “We couldn’t have pulled off this mission without you, Sergeant.” Jorgan glances at me as Dorne briefly smiles, “I was only following orders, Lieutenant. General Garza attempted to contact you a few moments ago. I took the liberty of briefing her on your mission status.” I nearly sigh, “Thank you very much.” Elara nods, “The general requested that you contact her before departing Taris. The holocom in the next room had been prepared for your use.” _So helpful, I bet Gaff will be glad when we leave._ I nod, “I’ll contact her right away.” Dorne salutes once more, “Congratulations once again, Lieutenant.” Jorgan follows me into the holocom room, stopping beside me as I holo Garza.

            “Ah,” Garza states as her image solidifies and I salute, “Greetings, Lieutenant, Sergeant. I understand congratulations are in order.” I nod, glancing at Jorgan, “Needles is neutralized, General.” Garza nods, her eyes flicking briefly to Jorgan as well, “You’ve done very well. Needles was a brilliant man—taking him down was no small feat. I haven’t informed Karden yet, but I doubt he’ll be upset. He and Needles never did see eye-to-eye.” I nod, wondering how anyone could be as Jorgan says, “I thought Karden was close to everyone in Havoc?” Garza grimaces slightly, “Yes, but Needles less so than the others. Purely different ideologies, those two. And yet, Tavus never had any problems with Needles. Perhaps that should’ve been my first warning. And there’s something else, Lieutenant. Tell me, what do you think of Sergeant Dorne?” I chuckle glancing at Jorgan, “Sergeant Dorne helped me when no one else would, General.” Garza’s brow quirks as she nods, “Yes, your reception on Taris wasn’t ideal. I’m glad you managed to find the one useful officer in the entire outpost. I looked over her service record. Impressive stuff, I must say. Were you aware that Dorne served with the Imperial military for almost two years, Lieutenant?” I nod, “She told me she grew up in the Empire.” The General chuckles, “Yes, the accent is a dead giveaway. Pure Dromund Kaas. Sergeant Dorne earned more commendations in her two years of Imperial service than most soldiers earn in ten. Since joining the Republic, she’s earned two Medals of Valor, both for rescuing wounded soldiers under fire in enemy territory. This woman has led an exceptional career.” I smirk, “Someone with Sergeant Dorne’s skills would make a great addition to my squad.” Jorgan rolls his eyes as Garza slightly smiles, “I agree. Sergeant Dorne is Havoc Squad material, without question. It’s settled, then. Congratulations, Lieutenant—you’re halfway to a full squad. I’ll contact Colonel Gaff to notify him about the transfer. You should go inform Sergeant Dorne yourself, Lieutenant. Contact me from your ship when you’ve finished. Garza out.” I sigh, turning amusedly to Jorgan, smirking, “And look at that, General Garza agrees.” He simply shakes his head and I move to go inform my newest squad member.

            Dorne’s sitting back at the console, trying to ignore a group of officers chatting nearby. She rises quickly as I walk towards her, the group laughing behind their hands. Dorne salutes once more, “Lieutenant, ma’am. Is there something else I can do for you?” I stifle the urge to glare at the group, settling for speaking loudly, “Consider this your official invitation to Havoc Squad, Sergeant Dorne.” I nearly smirk hearing the sharp intakes of breath as Dorne’s blue eyes widen, “Lieutenant, this… this is the greatest honor of my career. I’m speechless.” Jorgan moves slightly beside be, addressing our new squad mate, “Membership in Havoc Squad is the highest achievement in all of the Republic Armed Forces, Sergeant. Congratulations,” ending with a salute. Dorne returns it, before saluting me, “Sergeant Dorne, reporting for duty, Lieutenant! I’ll prepare my Regulation 6 Personnel Transfer documents at once!” I chuckle, _she’ll be fun. Hopefully, I can get her to relax, be at ease._ “You’ve more than earned this, Sergeant,” I state, still ignoring the now, or still, gossiping officers. She smiles, “I’ll gather my personal effects and meet you onboard your ship, Lieutenant. Thank you,” finishing with a salute before hurrying off. Jorgan shakes his head, both of us speaking normally as we head to _Storm_ , “Hope we can soften her up some. She’ll make me tense always reciting regulations.” I glance at him, amused, “I thought you were a stickler for the rules, Jorgan. Or is that only with a ‘rookie?’” He sighs, side glancing at me, “I’m a workaholic, there’s a difference.” I snort, “I’m pretty sure that’s not your only problem…” He sighs again, though it’s more like a growl and I smirk as we enter the spaceport and fall silent. Once inside, I holo Garza again who doesn’t even wait for the image to appear, “Lieutenant, I assume Sergeant Dorne took the news well?” I nod, “Sergeant Dorne is honored to be in Havoc Squad.” Garza claps, “Excellent. We’ll have the squad fully restaffed in no time. One other detail: Were you able to retrieve a sample of the weaponized Rakghoul disease that Needles was developing?” I grimace, “Sadly, all data and samples were destroyed in the fight, General.” She sighs but nods, “That’s too bad. Research division would’ve done anything to get their hands on a sample, and I could’ve used the favors. Anyway, I’ve been informed of two missions that are important to the Republic’s wellbeing on Taris. I’d like for Havoc, once Dorne arrives, to take care of it. While you do, we’ve sent some upgrades that C2-N4 will install. I’m sending mission specs to your datapad now. Garza out.” I nod, saluting her before she disappears.

            Once she does, Jorgan groans, “I’ll restock our supplies, hopefully, it’ll be quick.” I chuckle, grabbing my datapad when it dings, sighing when all she’s sent is who to talk to, both out of Olaris. One is in the resettlement zone while the other in the Brell Sediment near Waypoint Station Draay, where we left this morning. I shake my head, silently huffing before moving into my quarters to wash my face. After I’m done and exit, C2-N4 walks up, “Lieutenant, Sergeant Dorne has arrived. Shall I give her a tour?” I nod, “Sure, Ennfor. How long will installing the upgrades take?” Ennfor stops, “Six or more hours at most, Lieutenant. I guess we depart tomorrow.” I sigh, “Thank you. Give Dorne the tour.” The protocol droid nods before walking off and I go sit on a nearby sofa. Jorgan walks out of the armory, “So what are we doing?” I glance at him before shrugging, “No clue. All she sent was coordinates on who we’re talking to.” He groans, sitting next to me and we both fall silent until I hear Ennfor and Dorne. I stand as they approach, “Your unpacking will have to wait, Dorne. Garza has two more missions for us here.” Dorne nods, Ennfor cuts in, “I’ll take your things to the unoccupied troop quarters. Good luck on your mission.” Elara smiles at him, then glances at me, “I just need my blaster and some med supplies. Then I’ll be mission ready.” I nod, and she scurries off, coming back with a blaster strapped to her hip and a bag. I glance at both my squad mates, “You all set?” With their nod, we make our way out of _Storm_ then piling into our speeder. Jorgan is in the back with Elara sitting next to me, the driver. “If I may ask, Lieutenant, what were you doing for the doctor?” I grimace, “I was helping to create a Rakghoul vaccine.” Jorgan snorts behind us, “More like she and others we travel with became glorified guinea pigs.” I close my eyes briefly, “Thanks Jorgan,” I glance at Elara, “We sometimes work with some old friends of mine, the Draés. One is a Jedi Knight the other is…” Jorgan cuts in, “The other’s a smuggler, basically.” I turn barely to glare at him, before returning my attention to Elara, “What Jorgan said. Anyway, and you don’t have to call my lieutenant all the time or ma’am. And yes, I prefer ma’am over sir. Either Tae or Jessi works fine, I’d like to be somewhat informal since we’ll practically be family.” Dorne nods, “Understandable. Elara or Dorne works for me as well.” Jorgan snorts again, “I’m just Jorgan until otherwise stated.” I roll my eyes at him, before ignoring his statement, “You’re a medic, correct?” Elara nods, “I am, yes. I’m sorry, I didn’t even think to tell you that.” I shake my head, “It’s fine, Dorne.” I wrinkle my nose, “Elara.” She smiles before we fall silent nearly reaching the first mission’s coordinates, a droid.

            ‘// Alert // Distress signal = intercepted // Urgent intervention = required //’ the probe droid, designated G-5KN beeps once we’ve left the speeder. It then brings up the distress signal. A female blue-green Twi’lek appears, speaking in Huttese, “To anyone receiving: This is Amille Razna, Republic Security team seven. We’ve been captured by the man we came to arrest: The Locust. This scumbag is a scavenger on a massive scale—his droids have scoured entire planets down to the crust. And Taris is next! We need armed assistance at these coordinates immediately. The Locust’s ship must be disabled before he escapes and gathers his droids for full-scale operations. Please—hurry!” Jorgan crosses his arms as I address the droid, “We’ll look into this.” G-5KN does a little spin, ‘// Coordinates = downloaded // You = hero // For the Republic! //’ Elara is the one who gets the coordinates, pulling up the map. “We need to go there, Tae.” I nod, grimaces slightly as I glance at the sun, “Thankfully, we have half the day. Let’s hope we can finish this quickly so you can get unpacked,” finishing with a glance at Dorne. Both Jorgan and Dorne nod and we go on our way. When we finally reach where the Locust landed his ship, the numbers of pirates we fight through is ridiculous. Once we reach the ship and sabotage it, four pirates leap out running to attack us. By the time we near where Amille Razna and her team are held, we’ve lowered the numbers of pirates by at least forty. Jorgan jokingly calls it pest control, though Elara and I aren’t amused. I’m grateful for Elara and her medical expertise by the time we enter the hideout, letting me spend most of my time worrying about fighting and not healing. It seems like they sent the worst fighters outside to protect the base, well the best stay inside as our fights get increasingly harder. Finding Amille and her team is fairly easy, as they’re held in a room directly across the entrance. There’s four pirates plus a gang lieutenant protecting the prison cell forcefield controls. Once it’s shut down, I go talk to Amille Razna, who’s obvious to the fact we’re here to rescue her. She’s sitting on a cot as we enter, standing and walking towards us, “You aren’t guards!” turning to glance at her former guards with her two teammates, “I wasn’t even sure my message got out… this is perfect. We have to finish the mission. We have to capture the Locust—alive.” I glance at my squad mates, who nod, “We can handle it.”

            “You obviously have a much better shot at pulling it off than we do,” Razna states, beginning to pace, “but we’ll back you up all the way. Stopping the scumbag is important, but the real goal is to get control of those droids. ‘Advanced’ doesn’t even start to describe them. The Republic could repurpose those droids for something productive—maybe even use them to help here on Taris. But only if we can convince the Locust to hand over control.” My head tilts, “How will you accomplish that?” _It would help the colonists and get this place looking better…_ “ We’ll make sure he’s not in a position to refuse,” Amille states smugly, “Judging by the explosions, you’ve made sure the Locust won’t be leaving us—all we have to do now is find him.” It's then that we hear a door open and the sound of boots. Amille runs behind a crate her men following and we slowly move behind them as she peaks out. My ears flick, hearing seven sets of footsteps. “Blast! All right, new plan: we make a diversion, you go for the Locust. He won’t go down easy, but if anyone can take him, it’s you.” Then the security team runs out of our cover, and I peek around the edge watching as they somehow manage to get behind the seven men as Jorgan gets into a good sniping position. “Hey!” Amille yells, “We’re over here, you junk-eating sons of slugs!” I stop my chuckle as the team runs away a few of the men following after leaving only five for us to deal with. I glance at Jorgan, nodding and he takes his shot, removing the group’s leader. Then I pull out of cover, opening volley of mortar fire, instantly killing the remaining men. We hesitate only slightly, looting the bodies, before beginning our search for the Locust. He’s ironically in the only room we haven’t cleared, right of the entrance and not very well guarded. But that may be because he’s a male Gen’Dai, a species known for their toughness and near immortality. It takes all three of us to weaken him to the point where he surrenders if he were any other species he’d be dead.

            Amille and her team walk up just as he kneels down, raising his hands in surrender, “You got him! Great work!” The Locust stands, “No, I do not die here. Not like this!” I glance at him, “Let’s not make things any worse here.” Amille nods, walking closer to the wounded Gen’Dai, “We’re here to arrest, not to execute. And if you’re willing to cooperate, we can offer a lot more than just a jail cell. The Republic wants to put your droids to work developing new settlements, instead of tearing them down. Make it happen, and you’ll get full profit sharing and a reduced sentence.” The Locust basically growls, “This ‘offer’ is gilded chains. I am the Locust.” I can see this failing, so I cut in, “You could become a powerful and respected ally of the Republic, instead of a hated pirate.” Razna nods, “Besides, we can protect you from the relatives of the people you enslaved.” The Locust sighs, glancing at me then back to Amille, “Fine. Shall be your ‘ally.’ But to get my men under control… much time. Fighting may take longer to stop. Hmm,” he pauses, glancing at me again, “Of all opponents, you fought hardest. I fail, but I remain strong.” I barely dip my head, in acknowledgment, “As you say.” The Locust dips his own before walking away, Razna’s team escorting him away as she walks in front of me. “Taris saved. A galaxy-wide threat ended for good. None of it would have been possible without you. I’ll make sure the bounty on the Locust gets sent your way—plus a little extra from me and my team. We owe you our lives. Now, it’s time we escorted our new ‘ally’ back to civilization. Thanks again—take care.” We all nod to her as she joins her men then we make our own way out, groaning when we see how far the sun as lowered, nearing the horizon. The three of us run back to our speeder then we head to the second coordinates with Dorne driving as Jorgan and I try to relax. Who we’re next speaking to is a Duros pilot, Captain Reldar Kandik. “Rana Squadron’s down sir,” Reldar begins after saluting, “I caught some flak, bailed out. Got a few durasteel splinters in my hide, but nothing that will keep me from making it back. But my wingmen, all proud Duros, ace pilots… they didn’t make it. Shot down by those blasted pirates!” I grimace, _lovely more pirates_ , “What’s the situation?” Jorgan crosses his arms as Elara keeps a lookout and Kandik continues, “Rana Squadron was sent to obliterate the old Taris Reclamation base. Previous occupants were killed by Rakghouls and toxins, but their data’s still intact. Our bombs were supposed to incinerate the intel, but the pirate scum beat us there, killed my squadron… my Duros brothers!” _Now I understand why Garza sent us_ … “The Republic intel’s compromised. We can’t let the pirates sell it off.” Reldar nods, “Correct, sir. If those records get out, the Empire could ruin our entire reconstruction plan. But if anyone can stop them, it’s Havoc Squad.”

            “We’ll take care of this immediately,” I state, glancing at the disappearing sun as Dorne and Jorgan nod. “Rana Squadron thanks you,” Kandik states, “Recover our datalogs, force your way into the central command station and destroy our control droid. Brute force and thoroughness encouraged. After that, the pirate scum won’t find a scrap of intel worth selling.” Thankfully, the old base is just on the other side of a hill and some ruins right beside us. On the other side, we fight through around twenty-five pirates to get to the base’s entrance. Surprisingly, these Death’s Claw pirates fight better than the Locust’s men which means Elara needs to patch us up nearly after every firefight. I’m surprised when my datapad dings once we’ve reached the entrance of the old base. A message from Cheyanne asking if we’ll be coming to Talia’s ship for dinner. I grimace, just now noticing how hungry I am, before responding saying we’re doing team building. Which isn’t far from the truth as we’re starting to rely on each other and work as a unit. Once that’s done we go inside, where we destroy the three power couplings while removing the pirates inside. All in all, it’s more straight-forward and slightly easier, once the pirates are dealt with, than dealing with the Locust. After the power couplings, we destroy the backup generator that a crew boss is protecting to reach the terminal and control droid. There are only three pirates inside with the terminal and the droid only appears once we’ve retrieved the data. Somehow Kandrik knows when we’ve finished as he holos me, “Major Dejan will be pleased, not to mention the Reconstruction Authority and General Garza. But no one will be as grateful as me.” With that, he disappears, and I nearly collapse completely worn out. Jorgan chuckles when he notices and Dorne rushes to my side, staying nearby when I wave her away in case I fall. Jorgan drives us back to the ship where I head directly to the holo terminal to call General Garza who appears with a smirk. “I’ve heard the news, Lieutenant, you’ve completed both tasks in record time! How is your squad working together?” I nearly huff, _of course, all that was for team building._ I salute her, “Very well, General,” pausing to glance at them, “We worked as one.” She nods, “Good. You’ll need to for your next assignment. Your next mission is on Nar Shaddaa and it’s a tricky one. I’ll give you more info once you arrive. Get well rested, Lieutenant. Congratulations once again. Garza out.” With that, she disappears, and I collapse into a nearby chair as Jorgan and Dorne go to their quarters. After a while, I get up heading to my own to finally take a shower, thankful for the water to wash away the grime and blood of the day. When I’m dry, I put on a grey tank-top and some comfortable black pants with some house slippers then I exit, heading to the galley where I start cooking dinner.

            My cooking isn’t half as good as any of the Draés and definitely nowhere near good as my mother’s and Meme’s, my grandmother’s, but it works. Our meal is pretty simple, pork chops with potatoes and green beans. I’ll have to stock up on food and other supplies on Nar Shaddaa. I did, however, for my collection grab a pretty stone as we were traveling for my memento of Taris. My grandfather used to get something from every planet he visited. When I got old enough he gave his collection to me. My brothers were so jealous that Pepaw started getting something for them when he’d give me the souvenir. The gifts would never last long but it stopped them from trying to steal it. Over the years, I started to add my own to it from postings. It’s nothing ever really brought, just natural items I find neat or interesting. Pepaw taught me how to carve, so I usually carve the planet’s name and the dates I was there like he did. Thankfully, I brought the case with me, so I can add the little blue stone once I’m finished. Ennfor walks in as dinner is nearly finished, and I turn to him, “Can you finish this. I need to find Jorgan and Dorne.” With his nod, I walk out heading to get Elara, who’s in the lower soldier quarters. I find her as she finishes unpacking, surprising her in the process. “Ma’am,” she begins once she calmed, “My equipment and personal effects have been stowed in full accordance with transport code section two. If I may say so again, ma’am, it is truly an honor to be selected for Havoc Squad.” I chuckle, “I’m glad to have you on the team, Dorne.”

            “Thank you very much, ma’am,” Dorne says, smiling lightly, “I intend to begin reviewing and memorizing all relevant dossiers and intelligence reports on our assignments immediately. If I discover any points of confusion or areas where I believe I can contribute, I’ll submit a full 587-B report.” I tilt my head, silently chuckling, “You can also just tell me, Dorne. I accept that too.” Her eyes widen, like I surprised her, “Thank you, I’ll keep that in mind.” I nod, “Do you need our medical reports for your review? Or want to do any introductory exams?” Dorne closes her eyes, nodding, “Yes, ma’am,” pausing before she opens them, “Are you medically trained?” I nod, “I am. It’s not my specialty but yes. I haven’t had time to do any medical reports since leading Havoc.” Elara whistles lowly, “No wonder you’re glad I’m here. That’s a lot of work. Will Jorgan comply with an examination?” I chuckle, “He will if I make it an order. He’ll complain but he’ll do it.” Dorne nods, “Okay then I’ll get on with my review.” I nod, smiling slightly, “Oh and dinner is ready in the mess.” She grins, nodding and I follow her to the galley where Jorgan already is, dressed in civvies, probably smelled dinner. His eyes land on me before flicking away as Ennfor places a plate in front of him. Jorgan digs in immediately as Elara and I sit down, Ennfor delivering our plates. “This is delicious,” Elara exclaims after her first bite. I chuckle, “Glad you like it, Elara.” My eyes flicking to the other Cathar, “Jorgan seems to enjoy my cooking.” Elara’s eyes widen, “You made this?” With my nod, she gasps lightly, “It’s good.” Jorgan seemly nods and I roll my eyes, “So Jorgan, Elara needs to do a medical exam.” He stops mid-bite, “Why?”

            “Because she’s our medical officer, Jorgan,” I state, slightly huffing, “I can make it an order if you wish.” Jorgan sighs, “I’ll do it.” I grin as we all fall silent, enjoying our meal. Jorgan is the first to get up though he stops by the door of the mess, “Tae, talk to me when you’re done,” I nod, and he disappears down the hallway. Elara chuckles, stopping once I look at her. I roll my eyes, returning to my meal, once done I stand, letting Ennfor clean up as I go search for the Cathar. Unsurprising, I find him in the armory, I clear my throat to announce my pretense before speaking, “So to answer my earlier question will I always find you here, is a yes I will.” Jorgan rolls his eyes, facing the shelves, “Inventory report, ma’am. Food and medical supplies all look good, but our munitions are getting low. Thought we’d have enough to last us the year. Already requisitioned Command for more. Guess I shouldn’t be too surprised. See more action in one day with Havoc than you see in a month with the Deadeyes.” I chuckle, “Yeah, especially today I think we used the most. What ops did you and the Deadeyes do?” He turns to face me, “We mainly ran decapitation strikes, neutralized enemy commanders before Republic offensive. Left the opposition leaderless, disorganized. Sometimes we’d camp outside the enemy’s base for weeks, waiting for a clear shot. Eventually, we’d hit our target, pull out and let the ground pounders mop up.” I whistle, “You must’ve chalked up quite a kill count.” The Cathar smirks, “Over two dozen confirmed. Eventually, I was offered a promotion and a post on Ord Mantell. I took it. Smart move, career-wise. More men, more responsibility. But I wasn’t interested in fighting separatists.”

            “What were you interested in?” I ask, lifting an eyebrow. “I signed on to fight Imperials,” he answers, glancing away from me, “Anything else I did was career dressing. After my transfer, command of the Deadeyes fell to me XO, Torve. Smart kid—a little green, but the potential was there.” I nearly roll my eyes, settling for a chuckle, “If he learned from you, I’m sure he’s a fine officer.” He snorts, “Only so much a person can be taught about leadership. You’ve either got what it takes, or you don’t. Come to think about it, I haven’t been in contact with the Deadeyes for a while. I should find out where they’re stationed, catch up.” I pat him on the shoulder, “You let me know when you do. I’d like to hear some of their stories.” Jorgan glances down at where my hand was before nodding, “Will do.” He clears his throat, “I guess I should thank you for the meal. I can be put on cooking rotation if you like.” I lift an eyebrow, “You can cook?” He shrugs, “I drabble.” My eyes close as I laugh, “I’ll make a chart and ask Dorne if she’s interested in joining.” He chuckles, “Guess you got your wish, Tae. To learn her story and have her as part of Havoc.” I roll my eyes turning to head out, “Yeah, I did. She’ll make a good addition. Cheyanne and Talia will probably like her and,” I glance back at him, leaning momentarily on the door frame, “it’s always nice to have another woman on the squad. Good night, Jorgan. Don’t stay up too long with your guns…” I hear him snort as I walk away, entering my quarters. Once the door is closed, I stench out, kicking my slippers off. I do a few yoga poses to loosen up before grabbing the little blue stone I collected, then move to my bed starting to etch into it. Once both Taris and the dates we were here are carved into it, I get up, beginning my search for the priceless box. When I find it, I settle back onto my bed, sitting cross-legged as I bring out each item. I run my finger over each carved surface, trying to remember a funny moment from each planet. My hand freezes as it comes across two simple rocks that are carved. Both I could easily have as pendants, but I’d be afraid I’d lose them. The first is a red-orange quartz rock carved into the shape of a heart, it’s etching filled in with black ink. I reverently trace the planet’s name before bringing it to my lips and pressing a kiss to it, as it’s from my ancestral home of Cathar. The other is a deep blue Lapis stone, shaped like a sun, it’s etching also filled but with silver ink. This one is from our adopted home of Chandrila. I set both down, then stare at the dozens of items, memories that I’m trying to catch and hold on too. Slowly I place them back inside with my newest addition, then place it inside my bedside table making sure it’s secure before closing it then begin my nightly preparations and finally head to bed.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I felt like Jessi and Havoc needed more to do on Taris. Especially since they are the best squad there is in the Republic. So, I had them do some Heroic missions as 'team building.'  
> ==========================  
> 1-8 | Prologue  
> 9 | Interlude  
> 10-17 | Chapter One  
> 18-24 | Chapter Two  
> 25-31 | Chapter Three  
> 32-33 | Ilum  
> ==========================  
> Thanks for reading! Hope ya'll enjoy it and sorry for any mistakes. Positive feedback is greatly appreciated!


End file.
